Gioia della Vino - Le Caniette

A gentle, aromatic sea breeze wafted across the hillside on a perfectly sunny day as we stepped out of the car at Le Caniette. At first glance you might assume that Le Caniette is one of those new, hip wineries due to its contemporary architecture, but don’t be fooled. Upon entering the winery we were warmly greeted by Giovanni and you could immediately detect his authenticity.

ocean on the horizon and grapes in the foreground

We followed him to the back of the building to see where the wine making process begins, after growing the grapes of course. There were two tractors, each one designated to the harvesting of red or white grapes and two stacks of crates similarly designated in order to keep the varieties separate.

After harvest the grapes are stored in a large refrigerated room with specifically controlled temperature and humidity in order to suspend the grapes at their peak maturity until they are ready to be turned into wine. 

A few meters away is another large building holding steel tanks of wine in their first fermentation. At closer inspection you can see that outside wall and tents are decorated with a festive purple splatter and Giovanni explained with an air of humor that a tube exploded during production, a humbling story that made me appreciate the realness of their work. 

After explaining temperature, yeast growth and sugar conversions he drew a glass of wine from one of the tanks in it’s very first fermentation and had us try it. As we tasted the warm and extremely sweet grape juice, Giovanni explained that first fermentation is essential to developing the secondary aromas of a wine. From the area of processing and first fermenting we were led back inside to the site of the second fermentation. 

Red wine undergoes a second fermentation in oak barrels. The oak barrels used at Le Caniette are unique for many reasons, the primary one being that they are sourced from French oak as opposed to the traditional Slavonia oak and the other being that the French oak barrels are harvested in an extremely sustainable way. The only trees that are allowed to be used for the Ermitage barrels have to be over 150 years old and cleared by the French government. 

Finally we got to taste the delicious wine, made even more delicious by the obvious passion and love that Giovanni has for wine. We sampled seven wines: two rosé, two white, and three red. The rosé wine was light, floral and easy drinking. My favorite white was the Pecorino aged for one year and my favorite red was the Morellone made up of 70% montepulciano and 30% sangiovese. 

The most impressive part of the wine was how passionate Giovanni was about evolving his wines. Most winerys have family recipes that are religiously followed through generations whereas Giovanni travels the world and evolves his tastes based on his favorite samplings. Overall I was left with a warm feeling in my heart for Le Caniette and an appreciation for Giovanni’s humbleness, passion and wine-making methods.