The first bottle of Pallagrello Nero wine from the Vigna della Reggia di Caserta arrives at Vinitaly. The harvest has borne its hoped-for fruits and, on Monday 15 April at 1pm, the wine of the Royal Palace of Caserta, OroRe Nero, curated by the Tenuta Fontana winery, will be presented at the Italian wine exhibition, one of the largest in the world with a debate and a tasting. The presentation press conference will be held in the Campania Region pavilion, in the Tenuta Fontana stand. The debate is on the theme “OroRe and historic vineyards”. Speakers will include the director of the Royal Palace of Caserta, Tiziana Maffei; the journalist and documentary maker Luigi Ferraiuolo; the winemaker Francesco Bartoletti and the owner of Tenuta Fontana, Mariapina Fontana.
“The wines of this district are excellent, both white and red, and are among the best in the Kingdom, both for their quality and nature, as well as for the pleasant sensation they awaken in the palate. They go by the name of Pallarelli, and are highly esteemed in lunches”. Thus the Kings of Naples, among the most important monarchs in Europe, spoke of the Pallagrello wine, of the vine of the same name, which they also had planted in the gardens of the Royal Palace of Caserta, in the Bosco di San Silvestro, in order to be able to produce it directly in the Royal Delights. Such was their love for wine that they wanted the black and white Pallagrello, as it is known today, in the royal vine.
“We proudly present the Pallagrello nero from the Vigna della Reggia, after the Pallagrello Bianco, a tangible result of great team work for which I thank Tenuta Fontana – explains Tiziana Maffei, director of the Reggia di Caserta – A work aimed at enhancing the identity of the Vanvitellian complex: today a contemporary museum, alive and active, at the service of society and its development. In the real project, created by Luigi Vanvitelli, there is a vision of territorial development that we intend not to lose, supporting the experimentation of a healthy public-private relationship The Palace is today involved in numerous activities which demonstrate its possible role as a hotbed of productivity and excellence in the territory”.
About six years ago the Royal Palace of Caserta, Museum of the Ministry of Culture, recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site, then directed by Mauro Felicori, following a concession procedure entrusted Tenuta Fontana with a hectare of land in the Bosco di San Silvestro for the replanting of a vineyard. In recent years, the company, followed by the administration of the Royal Palace, has worked with passion and professionalism to plant a prized Pallagrello vineyard, the ancient Piedimonte, and the vine has slowly been reborn, becoming first grapes and now wine. It was a great challenge for the company and for the Royal Palace of Caserta.
“We were aware of the delicate nature of the role we played – explain Mariapina and Antonio Fontana, owners of the winery, based in Pietrelcina, the village of San Pio – and we carried it out with the greatest possible care and continuously coordinating with the Royal Palace and all the scholars who could give us useful information. After OroRe Bianco, Orore Nero, the Pallagrello Nero from the Vigna, which we previewed at the Reggia last November, is also arriving at Vinitaly, and we will begin to try to build a debate and a comparison with the other vineyards international historians”.
The original vineyard was the one that served the tables and the royal cellar and had an area of approximately five hectares, in front of the Casina di San Silvestro. Over the centuries the forest has eaten much of this extension and only one hectare of free land remains, right in front of the entrance gate of the Casina. And it is precisely that hectare that was entrusted to Tenuta Fontana, which cleaned it up and relaunched it with the help of two great professionals: the Florentine oenologist Francesco Bartoletti and the Livorno agronomist Stefano Bartolomei and the consultancy of a UNESCO accredited NGO for compliance with the heritage convention for revitalization.
