The heroic wines of the Costa Viola

What is the "oldest wine in Europe"

The "oldest wine in Europe" is a slogan coined to publicize the oenological reality of Calabria, a region felicitous for its climate and strong in a tradition that dates back to Magna Graecia when for this very vocation it was called Enotria. As for the exceptional nature of the stretch of Tyrrhenian coast between Scilla and Bagnara, suffice it to say that bergamot, one of the most environmentally demanding citrus fruits, fructifies here. Evidently such a close union of sea and mountain, we are talking aboutAspromonte, must also be of great benefit to the vine, which over the centuries, along with lemons, medlars and cherry trees, has found space on terraces, the so-called "armacìe," designed by an endless weave of dry stone walls. It is not surprising then to hear talk of "heroic" viticulture.

A bit of history

In terms of labeling, the area is covered by theIndicazione Geografica Tipica "Costa Viola" and the even more specific IGT "Scilla." Certainly, compared to the not too distant past, the areas in production are somewhat reduced. The abandonment of agriculture in pursuit of the industrial mirage of the 1960s, in fact, meant that nature followed its course undisturbed, recolonizing those impervious coastal slopes that ancestors had strenuously defended. Today, however, things are changing, and the vanguards of a new farming generation have resumed considering vineyard work, albeit under such challenging conditions, as an activity with its own clear raison d'être in the tourism scenario.

The wine renaissance of the Costa Viola.

The vacationers themselves have matured the idea that in Calabria it would be a must to drink Calabrian wines, there are some extraordinary ones, and that pushing to discover the so-called zero-mile wines, especially in that of Scilla, would make even more sense. The good thing is that in the wake of this wine renaissance on the Costa Viola, there are enthusiasts exploring forgotten vineyards in search of those varieties that over the centuries have gradually become distinct from their original strains. Each promising plant is then transferred to an experimental vineyard with the intention of reassembling the organoleptic mosaic of wines that in the past were embarked on Scillese feluccas to distant ports.

Not to be missed: food and wine and trekking.

Also on the agenda is wine tourism, with wine tastings and winery tours, or those activities that are part of the industry's custom, but there is also has thought about trekking up the terraced vineyards that jut out into the Tyrrhenian Sea with views from Sicily to Cape Vaticano far wider than the usual lookouts. "Cultivate, Protect, Tell" is the motto of the nonprofit association "Calabria Wild Wine," which has set as its institutional duty the protection of biodiversity and the wine landscape, while at the same time being the bearer of this new and more responsible mode of tourism.