Ep. 377 Sangiovese Lambrusco... | Leonardo's Vineyard

Welcome to the Italian wine podcast. My name is Joy Living in. And for the next several weeks, I will be bringing you some choice narrated content from the book San Jose, Lambrusco, and other vine stories written by mister Science himself, Professor Atigio Shenza, and Serena Eimaccio. Published by Positive Press dot net. To get a copy of the book, the Kindle version is available on Amazon and hardcover copies are available from Positive Press. If you like the content we share each week, consider donating to our show. Find details at italian wine podcast dot com or on our social media channels. Sit back and get your geek on as we jump into the details stories and science of Italian wines and vines. Leonardo's vineyard. Let's go to Milan. It's around twenty ten, and we are stopped in front of Corso Madrenta sixty five on a bright afternoon in mid October. This place is known as the house of Atelani bordering the Palazzo de Lestelina and once the home of a girl's orphanage. The Stelina in point of fact. It is a historical residence steeped in history and maintained by the family Castelini Marangi who not only take great pride in owning it. They still live within its walls. The following story might seem hard to believe, but it really happened. This palace and its wonderful gardens overlooking via Zenale were particularly dear to Leonardo himself was one of the illustrious house guests having arrived in Milan in fourteen eighty two in search of work. He managed to meet Ludovico Elmoro who entrusted him with various tasks at the Forta Court. Many of which would remain unfinished. Perhaps it was this reason that he stayed in this city for the longest time in which retains many memories of the presence of this brilliant painter, architect, inventor, sculptor, and winemaker. Milanan during the Renaissance was very different from today. Many spaces that are now urbanized were cultivated fields during that time. If we were to go by the names of some of the streets in the center, such as san Pietro, Alavinia, these names acknowledge that the vineyards must have been quite widespread. So much so that the garden of the Casa delliacelani would have also been part of a vineyard. We do not know how it actually happened, whether it was leonardo who asked or who randomly gifted leonardo a piece of land. At the time, in order to be a citizen of Milan in all specs. It was essential to own a parcel in the city. Thus, offering Leonardo, greater guarantees and stability. However, it happened, and Leonardo became the owner of a piece of Milanese vineyard. It may be that the vines reminded him of the Tuscan Hills from which he came. It may be because it was an activity to enjoy outside of work. The Casa Delia Delani is in front of the Santa Maria dellegra church, where leonardo lived just during the period in which he dedicated himself to the Frasco in the refectory. It may have been because he was intrigued by the behavior of the plants. The fact is the vineyard must have given him a lot of satisfaction since it is one of the few material goods mentioned by Leonardo in his will. The story at self is exciting, but what makes it even more extraordinary is that the vineyard in question remains almost unchanged to this day. The owners who had followed one another over the centuries had always taken great care not to touch the vineyard, even the failures had been replaced by offshoots or cuttings obtained from other plants in the vineyard itself. It is a real time capsule that has remained intact even centuries later due to the inattention of a painter. Housed in a guest house in the garden of the house, a fire was triggered destroying everything, everything but the roots of the vines. Thus, the vineyard that had been saved from the fire and preserved was later covered by a meter of rubble after the American bombings of nineteen forty three. Even the refectory holding the last supper was damaged by this. If you're wondering where the roots fit in with all this, know that this is the same question we asked ourselves on that mid October afternoon when our story first began. When we were presented with a project that drove us to the verge of madness, The owners of the Casa Delia Telani, together with a critic and popular student of the great Veronelli Luca Maroney, a geologist, an expert in soil structure, Radolfo Minonelli, and a university professor and researcher, Atilio Shenza, and Serena Imazio. Imagine a journey back in time to identify the exact variety that was cultivated in the garden of the Casa Deliat Delani starting from the analysis of DNA taken from roots that had been buried over half a century under at least two meters of earth and whose exact location was unknown. There were only a few photographs to help them taken during the second World War by a British plane patrolling the city, coupled with writings from a nineteen twenties book written by architect, Luca Petrami, describing the garden in an iconographical way. From the images, a map of the arrangement of the rose was reconstructed and excavations began. The first great victory was finding the path that ran under the bound by bricks. This was at a depth of one and a half meters, and it was still perfectly intact just as it appeared in the photographs. Beyond this, the roots of the vines still appeared active, the process took five years and which time a mechanical sieve was built almost ad hoc to separate the soil from the plant material after a lot of patients and in the laboratory, the answer came in. With almost ninety percent certainty. The disappointment was crushing. We thought it was a mistake. Some error in the laboratory What was a vineyard based on Marvasia Dicambia aromatica doing in Milan at the beginning of the renaissance? It could have been the wine at the court of the Sforzas, but that plant, at that time, was in Greece, not Milan or perhaps in the wake of the success of the wines of Venice. Some Malazia vines were brought from Greece and had been planted in the garden. This was the first time the results were analyzed on a PC screen after comparing the data with those contained in all the databases available at the time. The only evidence was the name of the cretan grape variety. A few months later a phone call came in from Yacopo Gilardotti who was completing research for the publication of a book on the history of the House of the Atelani. He asked Are you sure that the Marvasia de Candia aromatica comes from crete? Not one hundred percent, we said. Someone is beginning to find genetic proximities with Marvasia de Skierano and other vines of the Padana plane. But they are hypotheses. For now, the most accredited thesis says that it comes from Greece. Then, Gilardotti continued. That's right because consulting the available registers of the Milan historical archives It turns out that the atelani owned land in Kandi, Loma Lina, and I thought you might be interested. Bingo, I said. On the basis of this discovery, the attribution can be considered valid, and it can, their four, we concluded that leonardo da vinci liked sweet wine. The results of the independent research, which confirmed the autochthous nature of Malvasia Dikandia aromatica were published as further confirmation. Such an incredible story cannot be concluded without a bit of magic. In the garden of the Casa deli Atelani on the day in which work began replanting the vineyard, made with aromatic Malvasia Decandia plants from the traditional vine growing area. A solar eclipse occurred around eleven thirty AM, making for a particularly impressive work day. Thank you for listening to this week's installment of San Jose lamprosco and other vine stories. We hope you expanded your horizons and gave your brain cells an Italian wine workout. We'll see you again next Thursday and remember. The kindle version of the book is available on Amazon and hardcover copies are available from positive press dot net. If you feel inspired to make a donation to our show, please visit us at the Italian wine podcast dot com. Find Italian wine podcast on Facebook and Instagram. Our Twitter handle is at ITa Wine podcast.