Ischia DOC Forastera 2019 (750 ml.) - Cenatiempo

THE WINE

Forastera by Cenatiempo is a fresh white wine made with 100% Forastera grapes, a native vine of the island of Ischia. The vineyards, located in the municipality of Lacco Ameno on terraces with soils of volcanic origin, have been following the dictates of biodynamic agriculture for many years. Pale straw yellow color with some greenish hues. Bouquet characterized mainly by aromas of flowers and white pulp fruit, including jasmine and peach, and a hint of the herbs of the Mediterranean scrub. Fresh and mineral, salty taste, with a unique balance. 

THE COMPANY

Thinking about the Cenatiempo winery, one is immediately transported to the splendid landscape of the island of Ischia. Here in 1945 Francesco Cenatiempo gave rise to this strictly family-run wine business, today in the hands of Pasquale Cenatiempo, a winemaker who has always been away from the media spotlight. He is evocative of the setting within which the winemaking cellar took shape, literally dug into the heart of the Kalimera hill, almost as if to take root in the deepest and most lively part of that splendid territory. It is no coincidence that already in Roman times the island of Ischia, called Aenaria at the time, was considered "the land of wine", an economy on which it focused until the first half of the twentieth century, today taken up by this winery.

The wines of the Cenatiempo winery are the children of a unique territory, where the volcano meets the sea, the solid blends with the liquid, the heat of the lava blends with the cold waves of the Mediterranean. These two antithetical and pulsating souls are the author's signature of the winery's labels, appreciated for their pleasant drinkability and markedly saline vein. In the cellar any kind of production interference is banned, such as the use of wood, in favor of steel tanks and old concrete tanks in order to sincerely and frankly enhance the natural aromatic complement of the grapes. A synthesis of production and landscape tradition concentrated in a single glass!

Since the foundation of the winery, the Cenatiempo family has been committed to carrying out a noble project to enhance the native and traditional varieties of the island of Ischia. Biancolella and Forastera, the undisputed manifesto of the entire production, speak a saline, marine and fresh language like the sea on which the vineyards overlook, while Piedirosso, locally called Per 'e Palummo, has an earthy and volcanic soul, typical of the territory of origin. Heroic viticulture, practiced on steep terraces that enjoy perfect sunshine, which is based on the principles of biodynamic agriculture that respects the environment, to be tasted for sure and for what not, even to visit in person! 

EXTREME WINES: FIORDUVA

The “Vini Estremi” (i.e., Extreme Wines) are heroic wines, children of the hard work, sweat and industriousness of man; they are often produced in unknown, geographically unbroken, at times impossible areas, and cultivated in tiny plots of land snatched away from the mountainside, the rocks and the sea.

From Trentino-Alto Adige to Sardinia, from Valle d'Aosta to the island of Pantelleria, from Valtellina to the Amalfi Coast, from the Cinque Terre to the slopes of Etna, the ancient Enotria boasts a myriad wines that have survived wars, plagues and the scourge of phylloxera.

Grape varieties which, thanks to the tenacity and passion of certain small-scale but great winegrowers, have been plucked out of oblivion and are still able to offer the followers of Bacchus the most extraordinary wines.

Gianpaolo Girardi