Giuseppe Calabrese tends 4ha of old bush vines in the Pollino Mountains of Cosenza province in northern Calabria. This area of Italy is very remote; to say that Giuseppe is plowing the rough road is an understatement. For this isolation, his wines are unique
interpretations of the Pollino wilds, without influence from neighboring winemakers and peers. Giuseppe’s bianco comes from 0.5 ha of Guarnaccia [guer-NACH-a]. Also known as the “fox-tailed” Coda di Volpe Bianca, this variety is considered an excellent transmitter of terroir. Zooming in on the terroir of Pollino Cosenza: at the mountainous center of a peninsula surrounded by Ionian and Tyrrhenian sides of the Mediterranean Sea; at 650m, sun is abundant yet tempered by a constant cooling channel of air from the sea. The soils are particularly dynamic in this area, where the Apennines's sedimentary limestone connects with unique Gneiss outcrops of the Calabrian Arc, one of the oldest ocean crusts in the world. WILD!