Cián du Giorgi

A terraced paradise.
A handful of villages, perched precariously atop improbably steep cliffs, overlooking Italy's Ligurian coast. In order to reach them, your muscles and lungs are really put to the test. With every step taken, it almost seems as if you are calling into question the good sense of those who once decided to tame these steep and rugged terrains. Dogged men, whose hard work was surely rewarded with the view of a unique landscape, where wild nature merges and loses itself in the sparkling sea. These are the Cinque Terre. 

We are here thanks to our friend Irene de Feo, sommelier: “Get in your car and come: there is a producer you absolutely have to meet!” Not so much advice as a call to action.

And, given the trust and respect I have for Irene’s opinions, her honesty and the analytical capacity with which she approaches life, this was one call we could not fail to answer.
To think that when we first met at a dinner party in 2021, I had simply scrawled my phone number on a napkin for her, and now today she is the best ambassador of La Versione di Gunter.
If it wasn't for Irene, we would never have tasted Amante dei Venti and the amazing marine savouriness it offers with every sip.

"Adeline and I lived for several years in Bordeaux, where I worked as an enologist at prestigious Châteaux, while she was employed in marketing. Always wine, of course. They were fulfilling years" - he sighs - "but for us it wasn't enough: it was a dream, but it wasn't ours."

He is elated and visibly excited.
"I was physically ill. Every time I returned to France after being here, it took me at least two weeks to calm my jangled nerves. The sheer state of neglect of many centuries-old vineyards in the Cinque Terre was inconceivable for someone who, like me, had expended considerable physical and mental effort on reviving numerous abandoned vineyards around Europe. So much potential that was not being exploited and was slowly disappearing under Mediterranean scrub."

Until, one morning in 2017, Riccardo Giorgi and Adeline Maillard were trekking in Riomaggiore. It had seemed like any other day, and yet destiny took a sudden turn right before their very eyes: a sign saying VINEYARD FOR SALE.
"Once I set foot in that vineyard, I no longer knew whether I was coming or going and I just lost control."

A month later, they bought another piece of land above Vernazza, totalling one hectare.

“I have no regrets. We upped sticks and left France armed only with my scissors and in 2018 we started Cián du Giorgi, in the local dialect 'Giorgi terracing', where everything revolves around recovery, revival and high quality."

We follow Riccardo through the alleys of San Bernardino until we stop before the green painted door of his winery. 
Like a child proudly displaying his room to his friends, he invites us to enter this
small, ancient, lived-in room, whose walls have protected grapes and barrels for decades.

"We make wine in the vineyard. That's where, with almost maniacal care, we select the grapes."
Barriques, Clayver, steel vats and amphorae are nestled all around us in order to make full use of every last centimetre of the cellar. 
Each micro-zone of the vineyard is harvested and vinified separately. Riccardo and Adeline are extremely stringent with their products and are aiming for a complete conversion to biodynamic production within the next 7 years. 

It is impossible to adequately put into words all the enthusiasm and commitment with which this couple speak about their work and passion.

Their shared love and dedication to these lands can be clearly gauged from their tones.

It took nigh on three years to clear the vineyard of the Mediterranean scrub that had invaded it. Riccardo and Adeline, working single-handedly, unearthed vines planted more than a hundred years ago, some pre-phylloxera and free-foot*.
Abandoned vines, which bore witness to another era: indeed, in addition to Vermentino, they also found ancestral and native vines such as Bosco, Albarola, Ruzzese, Scimiscià and Bonamico.
First, they battled against the scrub, then they restored the dry-stone walls, which had collapsed over time, and then finally they intervened on the vines themselves. A gigantic, almost unimaginable task, the magnitude of which is only conveyed by the seriousness of Riccardo's tones when describing it. Suffice to say, the stones that were used to restore the dry-stone walls could only be transported up by helicopter: an undertaking, whose transportation costs alone reached astronomical figures.

_{*Free-foot refers to ungrafted vines whose roots and stem are from a single plant. Only a few rare specimens remain in Europe today, having survived phylloxera, a vine aphid.}

“The land here is like an open-air museum: it’s been a home to wine making for some 2,000 years and our own vineyards are more than 150 years old."

Riccardo and Adeline's is an ongoing struggle: against erosion, against animals, against the wear and tear of the terraced structures, and against the fragility of nature.
That is why Cián du Giorgi's wines are unique and must be listened to in order to be understood.

They deserve a special tasting: a goblet in one hand and, in the other, a photo of the vineyards, so we can truly understand the work behind each label.

With our hands sunk in the grass and the blue sea in our eyes, we are guided by Riccardo.
"The real folly was setting out on this project without having any real idea what the wine would actually taste like."

Of the bottles we taste we are immediately struck by the labels.
Painted by Welsh artist Susie Barrow, they represent the soul of each wine.
Susie created them by tasting the wine in its vineyard of origin and taking samples of soil, wood, plant matter and wine lees to obtain the necessary pigments.
Each label is an anticipation of the sensations each wine emanates.
Sensations that we too are finally about to experience.

Amante dei Venti 2021 is a high-altitude, barrel-aged Cinque Terre wine, produced in the vineyard above Vernazza. It expresses freshness, acidity, elegance, finesse. The unobtrusive sea tanginess reveals a wine that is not for aperitifs but rather for sipping when you want to relax.
It begins shyly in the glass and then slowly unfolds. It should not be drunk chilled because it must have a way to release its full identity.
A vegetal beginning with aromatic and field herbs that then changes to mineral and zesty.

Riccardo and Irene engage in a mesmerizing verbal dance. Listening to them speak about the evolution the wine is undergoing in the glass would be enough to convince anyone to order a supply. It is an engaging performance, guiding us through the discovery of exquisite facets of a white that changes minute by minute.
In this exceptional wine, produced in a mere 800 bottles, "You can feel all the crispness of the sea and the wind."

Amante del Sole 2021*, produced in the vineyard above Riomaggiore with the Bosco, Ruzzese and Albarola varieties. They are all 100% natural but precision wines. This is the taste you would have found if you had entered the cellar 100 years ago.
Riccardo has revived flavours that were in danger of being forgotten and his roots are deep within this wine, which is savoury, mineral, complex and has 10 months of maceration. A unique white, which does not make one think of the Cinque Terre but proudly expresses its very personal identity, far removed from the other wines of the area.
This wine represents the very soul of Riccardo and Adeline.

^{*To taste this wine, you will have to be a little patient: it will be available in a few months’ time.}

Azzurro 2021 is the only wine that is made solely in steel and with minimal maceration. It comes from the Bosco, Albarola and Vermentino grape varieties, which grow in the San Bernardino valley. This valley, which is more sheltered and cooler, has a less extreme character and thus yields wines with the same characteristics.
The nose has aromas of stones, myrtle with small exotic notes and Mediterranean scrub. The sea and wild herbs have a strong presence and instantly conjure up the air one breathes in the Cinque Terre.

As I had expected, as always, Irene was right: I absolutely did have to come and meet Cián du Giorgi, Riccardo, Adeline and Lino. 

Their contagious energy and optimism are an inspiration to anyone who wants to try and chase their dream. 

“Authentic” may perhaps seem a somewhat overused term, but it is really the only one that can truly capture the essence and spirit of this pioneering couple.

Before setting off, as I sit atop a low wall, gazing out at Riomaggiore and the steep cliffs that frame it, a glass of Amante dei Venti in one hand and the sun on my face, I realize the beauty of this unique and unrepeatable moment and how fortunate I am to be able to savour it in complete silence.