Pirro Varone: Organic Wine In Southern Italy
Pure and simple, Pirro Varone Winery has a hands-off philosophy of winemaking; it’s not what the winery does, but what it doesn’t do, that takes so much effort. Each and every wine that Pirro Varone produces is guaranteed to be:
- a mono-variety,
- made from grapes sourced from a single vineyard,
- aged in stainless steel; the winery does not possess a single wood barrel. “We tried it once, but, after four days, we couldn’t take it anymore,” says Piero Ribezzo, owner of the winery, whose family history in the area dates back to at least 1587.
Piero and I meet at 6pm in Manduria to visit the family villa, which was home to Pirro Varone during the 15th Century. The doorway of the historic villa is the winery’s logo, featured on every label. Inside, icons of the Virgin Mary and other religious figures are built into the walls, and the rooms smell of antique furniture. When Piero retires, he will move his family from Torino (Turin), in the north of Italy, into the villa. For now, he splits his time between Torino and Manduria, spending at least one week each month among his grapes. World-renowned winemaker Cosimo Spina heads the winemaking operations at Pirro Varone.
When we reach the Pirro Varone vineyards, the sun begins to set, throwing a spectacular eruption of rosy red across the vines. We pull up to a tiny cottage in the middle of the grapes, and Piero opens a bottle of his 2008 “Scirocco” rosato (100% Negroamaro). The rosé is clean and dry with wonderful structure. Negroamaro, Puglia’s most important native grape, has so much intrinsic character that it requires only a short maceration of 2–8 hours to extract its flavors. We carry our glasses to the roof of the cottage, where Piero points out the various vineyards: Negroamaro, Primitivo, Fiano.
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