Olive Oil and Wine
Meo Modo Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
I grow about 600 olive trees, Taggiasca variety. This variety was born right here, in this corner of Liguria, between the provinces of Imperia and Savona, between land and sea. Its habitat is the mountainside, where the sea breeze always blows. A once wild region bound by dry stone walls, where olive trees trunks rise like giants, set on the edge of the narrow terraces.
The olive tree is not always a tree of abundant yield but, from its small olives, we get a high-quality oil that is appreciated all over the world. Its most distinctive feature is its balanced taste. It enhances the recipes without dominating them. The notes of artichokes, pine nuts and almonds make this oil at once recognisable.
Meo Modo Extra Virgin Olive Oil is an organic oil, certified by ICEA (Istituto per la Certificazione Etica ed Ambientale). I do not use herbicides, insecticides or chemical fertilisers.
I prune my plants every year, feed them with an organic fertiliser when they need it, and I leave Nature doing as it wishes.
Some years plants produce more, sometimes less, sometimes nothing at all. Rainfall during flowering, a too-dry summer, hail or storms can turn a productive year into a bad one.
Agriculture, especially organic farming, teaches us to accept the laws and rhythms of nature. These often contradict people’s expectations.
The vineyard
Wine is my passion. At first, I had no vineyards of my own and no one around me was interested in selling or renting theirs.
Then I decided to do it my way. I owned a plot of land in a beautiful place.
The vineyard belonged to a man nicknamed “U cascè” (the cashier) because he was very skilled in maths. But the vineyard had been abandoned for a long time, and when I got into it, it was like a jungle of brambles. All that grew on this plot of land were blackberries, weeds, withered pine trees, diseased and unsafe. Over the decades, ivy had choked everything.
It was a real challenge, but I spent years taking care of this parcel and it rewarded me with the sweetest grapes, suitable to my wine, Pigato Vendemmia Tardiva and Pigato Passito.
The vine Pigato is typical from here. This grape usually produces a white wine of great character. A bit rough, perhaps, but it’s a taste that describes well this tough land, and the tenacious character of the farmers who have tamed it.
At last, I finished also the renovation of a small wine-cellar where my grandparents’ mill used to be.
Under the direction of the enologist Alex Berriolo I will produce, from the year 2019, a Vendemmia Tardiva Pigato and an Organic-Passito.