▻ Gorgona

Let's Talk About

10 Jul

Written By Sarah Kemp

In conversation with Marchese Lamberto Frescobaldi

Episode Summary:-

On the island of Gorgona, off the coast of Tuscany, is one of the wine world’s most remarkable projects: a partnership between Marchesi de Frescobaldi and Italy’s Department of Penitentiary Administration. Recently, Sarah Kemp travelled to Gorgona with Marchese Lamberto Frescobaldi, the President of Marchesi de Frescobaldi, to explore the project and discover how he became involved in the only winery in the world where the workforce are inmates, learning about viticulture and wine-making while serving out their sentences.

““Anybody can make a mistake in life, what has surprised me has been the desire of the people who have been working on this project together with us to grab their life back again.””

— Marchese Lamberto Frescobaldi

The wine produced is Gorgona, a blend of Vermentino and Ansonica, which retails for around £75. Marchese Frescobaldi recounts how he received a generic email from the Governor of the penitentiary asking if he would be interested in helping them farm their two hectares of grapevines and also improve the quality of their wine. He agreed to visit the island, and after talking with one of the prisoners, agreed to go ahead with the project. (When he asked the Governor why he had been chosen as the partner, the Governor replied that she had written to a hundred wineries, and he was the only one who answered.)

He recounts his first meeting with the island prisoners to taste the wine, a briefly awkward moment, as he had to explain that spitting out the wine was not because he didn’t like it, but how it was evaluated. This was the beginning of a two-way educational process, benefitting everyone in the end. Frescobaldi pay the inmates for their work, so when they go back into society they have money in their pockets, and have learned a useful craft. Several of the inmates who have finished their sentences now work on the Frescobaldi estates.

While on the island, Sarah met up with Frescobaldi’s chief winemaker, Nicolò D’Afflitto, who remembered clearly the call from Marchese Lamberto whilst he was on holiday, suggesting they make wine on the island, which only had two hectares of vines; he wasn’t keen, but after visiting the island, he was enchanted. He explains the terroir and the advantage of the cool maritime breezes, which retains freshness in the grapes. Today they farm five hectares, and make approximately 10,000 bottles of white wine and 2,000 of red.

Then, Dott. Giuseppe Renna, the Director of the Prison Institution of Livorno and Gorgona, explains to Sarah how important producing a wine of quality is to the prisoners – the recognition of the wine and their role in creating it helps their self-esteem. Frescobaldi says, “The goal of the project is not only to produce a great wine, but these people are going to be free, they are going to be part of society again.” When they leave the island, they have learnt new skills and been part of an enterprise of which they can be proud, he declares. “What has surprised me has been the desire of the people who have been working on this project together with us to grab their life back.” Clearly, on Gorgona, they have been presented with a wonderful chance.

Running Order:-

0.00 – 11.05

“It made no economic sense at all to do it.”

– How Frescobaldi was contacted by the Governor of Gorgona’s prison.
– How the project began with 2 hectares of vines.
– The marchese meets the prisoner who shows him their wine.
– His belief in the benefit of helping people get their life back.
11.06 – 17.34

“Anybody can make a mistake in life, what has surprised me has been the desire of the people who have been working on this project together with us to grab their life back again.”

– Nico d’Affrita, Frescobaldi’s head oenologist, reflects on the terroir.
– The blend of Gorgona wine.
– Dott. Renna, Director of the Prison Institute of Livorna and Gorgona, on the impact on the inmates.
– Marchese Frescobaldi’s greatest surprise about the project.