VINICA

About Winery and Wines

Vinica is embedded in the hills of Ripalimosani, a small medieval town situated at 2200 feet of altitude and North of Campobasso, the capital of the Molise region. The territory, located at 1640 to 2624 feet above the sea level, is made up mostly of hills with pristine rich vegetation such as forests, grapevines, olive groves, ancient grains crops, vegetable garden, heirloom fruits, wild flora and fauna. The soil formed 50 million years ago varies between clay, marl, sandstone, and calcareous. There are two ancient trails that run through Vinica : one is the Via Francigena a medieval route that pilgrims used to reach the Holy Land, and the other one is the "Tratturo " used by shepherds during the transhumance in order to bring the flocks from the high altitude pastures in the summer to the warmer sea level fields in the winter. In the last three years we planted about 20,000 native trees over an area of 15 acres with more than half actually planted on productive agricultural land. This was done in order to restore the native ecosystem and to avoid intensive agriculture and exploitation of the lands. In our forests there are many tree varieties such as Cerro, Maple, Oak, Orniello, Hornbeam, wild Cherry and Sorbo. The later is also found in the vineyards and gave us the inspiration for the label design and name "Lame Del Sorbo".