Vernero, the Black Pearl of the Colli Apuani

A natural sense of enthusiasm: Vermentino nero

This is the main emotion that accompanied me on the journey back along the narrow road that descends the hillside slopes, immersed as it is among fragrant woods and dense vineyards cultivated on fully grass-covered terraces, lending elegance and human character to an already magnificent landscape.
We are on the Strada del vino dei Colli di Candia: behind us the Alpi Apuane rise white and solemn, above all the monte Sagro, a solitary peak where the ancient Ligurian people celebrated the cult of stone; before us the Tyrrhenian Sea and in between the hills, then the pine forest that embraces the Versilia riviera and the nearby provinces of Massa and Carrara.

I went to visit the Azienda Agricola Podere Scurtarola of Pierpaolo Lorieri, the man who first placed his bet on an autochthonous grape variety that deserves particular attention and interest: Vermentino nero.
The back label of Vernero, a pure Vermentino nero produced by him, reads: "This wine is born from the search for traditions and the desire for new experiences."

What seems like a paradox is precisely what makes the "wine pioneers" great and shapes the future of territories: understanding that tradition is a dynamic process that sometimes needs to be reactivated and even reinvented.
Pierpaolo Lorieri, with his ability to convey in an almost contagious manner his love for his land, combined with a professional passion evidenced by numerous collaborations with universities and research centers, seems to possess that quality without which it is impossible to achieve great goals: the ability to blend the lightness that allows visionaries to look far ahead with the pragmatism born of the daily challenges that those who work the land must know how to meet.

His work speaks for itself through the extraordinary cellar tasting of a Vermentino nero that must still spend time in caratelli di rovere: a full-bodied sip that evokes all the aromas of the territory with notes of red woodland berries, the broom that grows freely all around these parts, followed by spiced hints and a minerality owing to the sandstone rocks present in the subsoil. A wine of considerable alcohol content supported by high acidity and an elegant tannin structure that, beyond leaving the palate clean and dry, reveals all the potential of a wine destined for aging.

This grape variety, which shares with the more famous and widespread white namesake only the production area and the particular vermilion color of the bud during flowering, has been present in this area since time immemorial, traditionally used to add softness and body to a single red wine type produced from local grapes. It is mentioned for the first time in the bulletin of the Comizio agrario of Massa and listed among the grapes to be cultivated on hillsides to obtain fine and luxury wines: it was 1874. In the immediate postwar period it nearly faced extinction, being considered difficult to cultivate.

In 1987 his friend Fucigna asked Pierpaolo to try vinifying it as a single varietal; two years later, the first vinification marked the beginning of a journey that will lead, hopefully soon, to the birth of the Doc Vermentino nero.
Such a dynamic producer could not resist launching into new challenges, and for some years now he has presented the "Vini di marmo": white wines aged in Apuan marble barrels inside the Cava Capraia. I absolutely intend to go back and visit him: Prosit!