Introduction - The Encadde vineyard
As a connoisseur and custodian of ancient wisdom, ancient
flavors and ancient aromas of the island of Ischia I invite
you to visit it. It is an image that has been engraved
on my memory since I was a child, walking along the path
of the Encadde vineyard, that inspired me to create a
museum dedicated to the wines of Ischia (Vitiarium).
The old man makes his way stooping, grasping a twisted
and gnarled oak staff in one of his bony hands; bracing
himself with the other on the stones of the bulkhead that
know to fear it from ages of experience. He climbs the
path along the vines, determined to the last breath.
He climbs simply to oversee; like Merlin, mixing verdigris
and dosing sulphur and lime he reads the future. With
his magic mace he stirs the concoction to keep it from
settling; he is alive, with indispensable thrift he obtains
exquisite grapes and consequently exquisite wine that
will compensate for an entire year of sacrifices.
He is indispensable, manpower endowed with age-old wisdom.
He will do his part to the last, sharpening canes, preparing
willow bundles or hand-peeling (or as he says, "scunucchiari")
peas and fava beans. Standing before his cellar, he looks
over his vines, his land, listening to it breathe, then
the horizon as he considers the future. Will there be
a future for those eyes, lucid and bright as when he was
a child?
When a land no longer has generations willing to know
its history, its very life, it must not give up but pass
it on to the thoughtful minds of Rome, Milan, of Berlin,
London, of New York and of Tokyo. They will preserve our
history in their homes, in their minds and in their hearts,
so that in times of hardship it will be like a flame to
burn everything and start over. Only thinking of our peoples,
who from the rocks made flow rivers of wine, the nectar
of the gods, the nourishment for their very survival,
only thus shall that be possible.
This makes quite clear what inspired me to create "La
Vigna dell'Encadde:" my own little Ischia, a time
capsule that brings together the fifty or so native grape
varieties, each with its own name, and a history that
goes back millennia making the true history of our peoples,
since the livelihood of a people is what really makes
its history.
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