The 2025 vintage has seen the return of wine production at La Sabatinaccia!

After a few years of suspension due to the construction of the olive mill and the expansion of the olive tree cultivation, last year, in which the harvest of olives was very scarce, provided the opportunity to resume a very limited production of artisanal wine.

This is an organic white wine made from Procanico and Biancone grapes, vinified naturally without the addition of selected yeasts, in the style of the old farmers.

The wine is called Nonno Guido, and this is its story:

Gianluigi, a city child, used to spend some time in the summer with his maternal grandparents Guido and Jolanda who lived in the countryside, where the environment was very different from that he was used to in the city.

At the beginning it wasn’t easy to adapt to the situation. Cows instilled a certain fear in him, but he also felt uncomfortable around chickens and other large birds. Rabbits, on the other hand, took an immediate liking to him, and his grandmother Jolanda would sometimes catch one of the younger ones and place it in her grandson’s arms.

Then there was Vull, a German Shepherd dog. Everything was easier with Vull because there were dogs in the city too and Gianluigi loved them.

Finally, Bir, a large donkey with dark brown fur. One day, grandfather Guido put a sack on Bir’s back and hoisted his grandson onto its back. Gianluigi, 5 years old, felt the same sensation he had at the amusement park, on the flying rides: a mixture of exhilaration and fear. Then, over the years, there were other opportunities to ride, in other places, no longer on donkeys but on horses. The fear disappeared but the thrill remained. Gianluigi, trained by excellent instructors, became a skilled rider, winning prizes in riding competitions, but he never forgot the fur, the ears, and the smell of Bir!

Similarly, Gianluigi never forgot other smells he had known at his grandparents’ farm, among which those of the cellar where grandfather Guido made, in everyone’s opinion, excellent wines.

So when, many years later, in 2025, Gianluigi decided to make wine by himself from the grapes of the Elba vineyard he couldn’t forget his grandfather Guido and his name is gratefully remembered on every bottle.

This is an old-fashioned, homemade wine with a distinctive flavor, quite different from modern commercial wines. The tasting experience allows you to dive into the past and rediscover the long-lost flavors of a wine produced exclusively from the island’s historic grape varieties, Procanico and Biancone

Nonno Guido, Gianluigi, Bir &Vull

LABORATORY ANALYSIS OF “NONNO GUIDO” WINE:

La Sabatinaccia offers a second wine, Campi del Garibaldino, a sparkling organic white wine.

It is also the result of a long family history:

Gianluigi has inherited from his family some lands located on the hills overlooking the Po Valley between Reggio Emilia and Modena, in an area historically suited to grape growing.

These lands were purchased by his great-grandfather Ferdinando Rossi upon his return from Giuseppe Garibaldi’s expedition to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1860), in which Ferdinando participated as a volunteer.

After completing the military campaign, the young Rossi devoted himself to agriculture, clearing largely uncultivated land and planting several vineyards, the last of which remained in operation until the 1960s and were then definitively abandoned.

In 2019, Gianluigi planted a modern vineyard of Spergola grape (a typical local variety) on one of these plots, ideally reviving the memory of his Garibaldian ancestor.

When the new vineyard started producing it was entrusted to the Cinque Campi winery (www.cinquecampi.it), which boasts long-standing expertise in the direct production of high-quality wines (particularly sparkling wines) following the organic method.

Campi del Garibaldino is a sparkling white wine made using exclusively natural methods that stands out from the more common commercial wines. Its rugged character perfectly matches its name and the history of the soil that nourishes the vines. It’s perfect for those who want to get off the beaten track and rediscover ancient flavors.

Ferdinando Rossi