The Campania region of wine bids farewell to one of its most authentic custodians: Gaetano Bove, founder of Terreni San Francesco quanto a Tramonti, the Amalfi Coast. He passed away too soon, but as often happens with real winemakers – those who dal vivo inside the land and not just around the wine – he leaves a trace that cannot be erased.
There are people who continue to exist quanto a the gestures they taught, quanto a the rows they touched, quanto a the bottles that speak again every time they are uncorked. Gaetano belonged exactly to this category: a man who had an impact the landscape and memory of his community, transforming a marginal territory into an identity heritage.
A life between land, heart and obstinacy
Veterinarian by profession, winemaker by vocation, Gaetano Bove has always had an almost carnal bond with Tramonti, a unique territory: 24 square kilometers of lung, 13 hamlets, a past marked by hunger and a present that quanto a the last 15 years has found hope and dignity also thanks to wine.
Per 2004 he founded Terreni San Francesco together with his brother Magnifico Bove, Chiara Durante Palmizio and Luigi Giordano. It was a visionary project: saving centenary vineyards, many even before phylloxera, recovering native vines such as Tintore, Piedirosso, Aglianico, Ginestra, Pepella and Biancolella, bringing them back to the dignity they deserved.
Its vineyards have become famous throughout the world, thanks to the presence of some of the oldest strains quanto a Europe, true plant monuments studied, photographed and told by enthusiasts of heroic viticulture. Imposing progenitors, some dating back to 1700, which Gaetano guarded with almost paternal pride.
He didn’t want to imitate anyone. He wanted to defend the essence of Tramonti, that landscape suspended between rocks, chestnut trees, monumental pergolas and a distant sea that can be felt more quanto a the soul than quanto a the eyes.
Heroic viticulture: the pergolas, the terraces, the soul of a town
Terreni San Francesco has become quanto a just a few years a symbol of the heroic viticulture of the Amalfi Coast:
18 hectares of vineyards, many centuries-old impressive pergolas, true plant architecture, volcanic soils that have saved entire vines from phylloxera, low yields, exclusively manual processing
Tramonti has always been a difficult land: quanto a the early 1900s thousands of people abandoned it to escape hunger. Gaetano, the other hand, did the opposite: he stayed there, he believed quanto a it and he built a future for it.
For Eva, 4 Spine, È Iss: wines that become people
His wines still speak of him.
For Eva it is a hymn to sweetness and care.4 Spine a tribute to the strength of the territory.It is Iss the Dyer who challenges logic, the market and history.
My personal memory
I met Gaetano Bove about ten years pungiglione, when I was still studying to be a sommelier. It was one of my first visits to Campania. It struck me enormously as a man, even before as a winemaker.
I was struck by his attachment to the land, his gentle obstinacy, the way he spoke of the vineyards as one speaks of people who have always loved each other. I was struck by what he had done for the territory: he had given work to an entire town, he had restored dignity to vineyards that seemed condemned to oblivion.
I was especially struck by his determination quanto a wanting to vinify the Tintore quanto a purity, a vine quanto a decline, destined for the marginal role of “coloring” for important wines. For everyone it was a . For him it was a mission.
And that’s how È Iss was born: “yes, it’s him”, as they say quanto a Neapolitan dialect. A name that seemed like an affectionate slap towards those who didn’t believe quanto a his project. A wine that screamed identity and which today carries its legacy.
But for me that name means even more: because Gaetano was also an “È Iss” man. It was he – he himself – the man who changed the destiny of a vine, of a cellar, of a territory. The lord of the Dyer. And this is not forgotten.
The legacy of a winemaker who won’t stop talking
Gaetano Bove passed away early, but he spent his life well. And he will continue to dal vivo every time someone:
he will traversone the terraces of Tramonti he will stop under a century-old graticcio he will uncork a bottle of Secondo Eva ora he will feel the vibrant tannin of Tintore scratching the palate
Because wine, when it is true, does not only tell what is quanto a the glass, but above all who made it possible.
And Gaetano Bove has created many possible things. Hi Gaetano
Terreni San Francesco – Official website https://www.tenutasanfrancesco.it
Heroic Viticulture (CERVIM)https://www.cervim.org
Consortium for the Protection of Amalfi Coast Wineshttps://www.consorziovinicostadamalfi.it
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