Touching the tradition
Cantina Sassarini was founded by Natale Sassarini in 1968, which perceived the quality and economic interest in the production of a local wine, even before the DENOMINATION OF ORIGIN was sanctioned by the 1973 disciplinary.
He built his cellar and gathered around him numerous farmers who incessantly cultivated their vineyards with pride and skill.
Natale Sassarini’s horizon now seems to merge into the horizon of all the winemakers of the Cinque Terre and his son Giancarlo, who proudly carries on the work begun half a century ago.
The fiftieth anniversary of Cantina Sassarini can be the first stone to consolidate a wine tradition of the Cinque Terre that until now has been lacking.
Today the production site is totally renovated and equipped with the latest generation of wine making equipment, confirming the commitment to perpetuating the tradition.
The horizon of the Cinque Terre
A territory rocked by the sea wind, by the summer sun, perched and almost isolated, arid and impervious, but fertile if cared for and supported.
Walls stacked one on the other, juxtaposed like houses towers, walls from the sea to the edge of the sky, like secular sculptures.
Stones in the sun, scorched by summer heat, houses for snakes and keepers of vines, lemons and olive trees.
Walls that limit the gardens and measure the foot of the man who takes care of them.
Dangerous walls, crumbling, walls that hold a unique structure in the world, walls that mark the landscape as infinite lines, stone walls that speak of the history of the Cinque Terre.
The wine is born there, the vineyard is fine there. Bosco, Albarola and Vermentino, difficult vineyards in a difficult territory.
Sweat and stubbornness, fatigue and salt. There is no solution other than to keep the dry stone walls firmly attached to the rock. There is no plan “B” for the viticulture of the Cinque Terre. We talk about the recovery of vineyards, it would be better to speak of restoration, as if it were a piece of art.
There are plans for the protection, but it is all entrusted to a few, the “heroes”, the heroic winegrowers, who do not give up, indeed, they leave at every landslide, at every stone that has fallen, but the work is majestic, we need hands and money, The time for the walls is not infinite and unhealing wounds open with the autumn rains.
It takes hands and minds that bow to sacrifice without looking around, fighting against abandonment, against hedges and against the meerkefleism.
If it is a work of art, if the Cinque Terre are truly World Heritage Site, The man who does not care for his piece of heritage must step back and let others have the courage to get their hands dirty with the earth and allow it to survive.
Time does not give suspensives to carelessness and now more than ever do not need “heroes” survivors, but land, stones, rootstocks and money.
If the vineyard is culture, if the walls are art, if Cinque Terre are heritage of humanity we must stop, take a breath, up to the limit of the villages and not turn back.
The vineyards between the walls are there, more under unwitting and fast tourism.
We all look at the horizon in awe, but it is not the same horizon for everyone.
