Le Foto dell'Azienda

Ambassador, Ladies and Gentlemen

I’ll be not long, allow me just a few words to thank the Italian Ambassador for his kindness. Ambassador thank you for hosting this prestigious event for the launch of The Julius Caesar wine collection.

I’m the producer of Mamertino wine, whose grapes have been growing since centuries
in the NW side of Sicily alongside the Thirrenean coast leading from Messina to the old town of Tyndaris. My vineyards still grow on the slopes of the hills overlooking the beautiful scenery of the Aeolian Islands and Milazzo Peninsula. More precisely in the old town of Santa Lucia del Mela.

I’m a producer but I’m also an amateur du vin, a wine lover and passionate drinker. A very curious drinker. I want to know what kind of wine I’ m drinking, its origin, its history. Since I was young walking alongside my family’s vineyards I used to ask my workmen a lot of questions about the vines, the variety of the vines, the shapes of the leaves, wine processing and wine quality. In fact I was interested if they knew of Mamertino’s history and if they were aware that the wine produced was real Mamertino. I remember September time, when the grapes full of juice were brought to the pressing house. All the surroundings at that time smelt of generous perfumes of the must, the wine just pressed. Those are memories well recorded in the CD of my hectic life.
 
Before me, in that same area, the Mamertini people were growing vines. The Mamertini were a people of warriors installed in that area to help the Roman army. There are copious records dating back to 289 BC when Mamertino was planted there and it was described as a praiseworthy grapes variety for the production of a praiseworthy wine. During Roman times Mamertino became very famous. Mamertino was the wine chosen to celebrate big occasions such as the 3rd consulship of Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar was a great ruler but also a fine drinker and at his table were always served the best wines of the time. Writers had filled many pages on Mamertino wine, Poets had dedicated many poems to the Mamertino, Pliny the elder in his Naturalis Historia / the History of Nature/ has made a guide of wines and he placed Mamertino at the 4th place in his classification of nearly 195 wines known at the time. Yes Mamertino is an ancient wine but at the same it is a new wine, it renews itself every year, it is a dynamic wine which contains man’s fuel and it is his life blood. This is the way the Futurists described the Mamertino.

What should we look for in a Mamertino glass of wine? Quality goes without saying, tasting a glass of Mamertino wine we also search for the elusive emotional response. We look for something new, something different, we finally look for en emotion, for new sensations. You can be sure, believe me, Mamertino will strike inside you. The fragrance coming out from a glass of Mamertino wine, fruity, full-bodied, plenty of flavour and aromas makes us dream and it takes us back to ancient times when myth and tradition mixed together but now also with a sense of style.
Ladies and gentlemen taste and toast, sip slowly your Mamertino wine. Live the dream. Leave your soft, cosy everyday existence.