Just one hour from Portovenere, the Luni Hills are nestled in the picturesque landscape where Liguria seamlessly transitions into Tuscany. This is where the story of La Pietra del Focolare winery unfolds, a tale steeped in tradition, passion, and a profound connection to the land.
The family legacy
Laura Angelini, her husband Stefano Salvetti, and their daughter Linda are behind this small winery.
The journey of La Pietra del Focolare began in the nineteenth century amidst the humble sharecropping of Laura’s ancestors, a testament to life’s simplicity and the reverence for manual labor.
Her uncle, Zio Cambrà, was a great winemaker and transformed an old dance hall into a cellar with chestnut barrels. His legacy was passed down through generations.
At the end of the 1990s, Laura and Stefano replaced part of the traditional chestnut barrels with stainless steel tanks, creating a new vinicultural reality dedicated to producing 1,000 bottles of Vermentino. It has since then become a small winery of excellence in Italian viticulture.
Exploring the vineyards
The vineyards of La Pietra del Focolare are a patchwork of thirteen distinct parcels, each contributing to the biodiversity that defines this winery.
From the sun-drenched slopes of Sarticola to the ancient pebbles of the Magra riverbed, these vineyards capture the essence of Ligurian terroir.
The varieties of Albarola, Malvasia, Ansonica, Vermentino and Trebbiano flourish here amidst the clayey soils and gentle sea breezes.
A glimpse inside the cellar
The cellar is in a historic rural home in the Gaggio district and is a testament to the enduring spirit of craftsmanship and reverence for the land.
The legacy of Uncle Cambrà lives on between the terracotta amphorae and the stainless steel tanks, inspiring a new generation of winemakers and wine lovers.
What makes the winery unique
We had the pleasure of exchanging a couple of words with Linda Salvetti, who is in charge of marketing and PR at La Pietra Del Focolare. Speaking of what makes the winery unique, she explained:
“Our magnums and the larger bottle formats indeed characterize us. They are hand-painted on glass by Stefano Salvetti. The paintings portray glimpses of the Ligurian landscape in all its beauty and wonder: from the sea to the hilltop villages, up to the countryside and the ritual of the grape harvest.
Furthermore, we are giving a lot of space to long fermentations, macerations and refinements both in the bottle with our Liguria di Levante IGT Campo alle Rose and in terracotta amphorae with our Vermentino Colli di Luni DOP Anfora.
Campo alle Rose is a sincere expression of our territory, in memory of our grandparents and their wine, a 70% Vermentino blend combined with four other vines (Albarola, Malvasia, Trebbiano and Ansonica). After extended maceration, it refines in the bottle for about a year, giving life to a full-bodied wine, thought of as a painting by Van Gogh or Cezanne, characterized by an intense straw yellow color combined with exceptional aromas of ripe fruit – yellow peach and pineapple – exotic notes of tropical fruit and amber flowers, with a savory and mineral finish.
Anfora represents a tiny production of 440 bottles and evokes the ancient local traditions of wine aged in terra cotta. It undergoes a long maceration in steel and two years in an amphora, followed by a year of refinement in the bottle. It gives notes of fruit, in particular yellow peach and pleasant medlar with light hints of aromatic herbs and floral notes of acacia. It’s a silky, enveloping and intriguing wine.”
For information and to reserve tastings or guided tours at La Pietra Del Focoalre, email visite@lapietradelfocolare.it, call +39 3331767619 or visit lapietradelfocolare.it.
