Whether you’re looking for the perfect holiday gift for the Ital-o-phile who has everything, or whether you’re searching for ways to strengthen your own bond with the Italy by investing in the production of its best agricultural products, have we got an idea for you!
Last month we showed you how to adopt an Italian olive tree (and thereby reap the benefits of its produce) and yesterday we filled you in on all the details of adopting a sheep in the Abruzzo (you can already smell the pecorino cheese every time you open the refrigerator, can’t you?). Today we move on to wine, that nectar for which the boot-shaped peninsula receives so much praise, as we tell you how to support local Italian viticulture by adopting a vine.
The founding members of Nobili Terre, a not-for-profit organization, are the brainchilds behind this clever intitiative, the purpose of which is that of informing the public about wine-making and involving them in the process, while promoting local economic growth. So what are the details? The English version of Nobili Terre website is are a bit confusing, so we’ll walk you through the process.
The cost of becoming a virtual wine producer euro 360, which is paid in the form of a donation to the Nobili Terre organization and will be used to support a row of vines for a year in a region of Italy of your choosing. If you’re a fan of Italy’s well-known red wines, you might go for Piedmont where you can support the production of Barbera, Dolcetto, Grignolino, and Brachetto grapes; for Tuscany, where Chianti and Morellino are grown; or you might instead choose to support the making of Sicily’s up-and-coming Nero d’Avola. Prefer white? Then you’ll want to choose Lombardy with its Rieslings or the Veneto and its Proseccos.
Once that tough decision is made, you fill out a contract (at the moment it seems to be available on the web only in Italian) and send payment to Nobili Terre, thereby becoming a virtual wine maker!
As an investor in the Nobili Terre vineyards, you are invited to particpate in such activities as the vendemmia or grape harvest, the wine-making, and the bottling and labeling. If you can’t be there, then over the course of the year you’ll receive updates about your vines and about the process of wine-making. Finally, at the end of the year, your good efforts will be heartily rewarded when 60 bottles of wine made from your vines (or similar ones) will become your very own (shipping is not included in the euro 360 fee).
If you’re giving this as a gift or want to make those 60 bottles extra-special, you can even request personalized labeling and packing in customized wooden boxes.
For more information see the Nobili Terre website or contact them at info@nobiliterre.eu
