LE COSTE
Italy, Gradoli

Clémentine Bouveron and Gian Marco Antonuzi started Le Coste in February 2004, it now covers about 14 hectares. The vineyard is situated in Gradoli, in the province of Viterbo, on the border with Tuscany, 40 kms from the Mediterranean coast. Lying at 450ms above sea level, in the hills overlooking the Lake of Bolsena (of recent volcanic origin, about one million years old), the soil is loose and friable, derived from the underlying volcanic rocks and ashes, rich in iron and minerals. Le Coste practice “natural” agriculture, without any official certification, but with great respect for the environment, in order to create a natural balance which intensive farming would certainly disturb. They cultivate mixed crops, vines, olives, fruit trees and green manures.

The vines at Le Coste are traditional in the area, chosen carefully from the remaining old vineyards, all grown as a low bush sustained by a post of chestnut wood. In order to favour the development of humus and a natural fertility they do not use chemical fertilizers or mineralized organic fertilizers, only their own compost and horn manure 500 preparation. They spray with natural sulphur and copper sulphate, helped by biodynamic preparations such as horn silica 501 in the growing season, and infusions of horsetail, yarrow, willow and nettle to discourage the growth of parasitic fungal diseases.

Harvest is done by hand from the beginning of September to the beginning of October. The wine is made without technological processing or chemical additives; fermentation occurs spontaneously due to indigenous yeasts without adding sulphur dioxide; malolactic fermentation follows naturally, usually after the alcoholic fermentation, sometimes ending in the spring. After one siphoning to prepare the bulk, all the wines are bottled by gravity, without filtering or adding clearing agents or sulfites.