Tales of a Territory in a Box, The Crus of Alois Winery, Pontelatone (Ce)

 

I recently had the opportunity to visit Alois Winery , a family winery located in the Caserta province.  This winery, located in Pontelatone, not far from the Caserta palace, has been around for over 30 years.  It is a winery that focuses on the production of three grape varieties tied to the territory- Pallagrello Bianco (white ), Pallagrello Nero and Casavecchia (red).  The drive from my house to the winery takes about 50 minutes or so.  On my way there, I realized that I hadn’t been in 8 years.  8!  Wow.  Did I remember the way?  Maybe better to use Google Maps.  I arrived without problems.

The harvest was just over, but no problem.  I decided to visit the vineyards another time.  My eyes were attracted to the bottles.  A certain set of bottles in particular.  Their Crus-their wines produced from particular vineyards. 

Trebulanum® Casavecchia di Pontelatone DOC – Casavecchia

Morrone® Terre del Volturno IGT - Pallagrello Bianco

Murella® Terre del Volturno IGT - Pallagrello nero

I was attracted to these particular bottles, not just for the clean white and gold labels- but for the clean wooden boxes. Each box had 6 bottles.   And in that box, there was another box.  And in that box there were jars. 

Let’s take a closer look.  How many times have you bought a bottle of wine, read the label and tried to imagine what and where was being described?  Massimo Alois asks himself the same questions, and is a soil collecting fanatic.  So besides the (numbered) labels giving info about the location and altitude of the vineyard, Alois has included samples of the terrain in little jars.  Pretty cool!

Alois has also included maps- maps designed in collaboration with artist Felix Policastro and printed by Massimo Longabardi. 

What better way to learn about a territory? Open a bottle, pour yourself a glass, check out the maps, run your fingers through the soil in the jars…

Then have your own mini tasting- swirl the glass, take in the aromas, and finally taste. 

Cheers!