info about producer: Basilisco

Basilisco Vini, Barile, Potenza, Basilicata, Italy.

THE WINERY

The winery Basilisco, since its start in the early 90s, aimed at the highest quality both in the vineyards and in the wine making thus becoming in a short time a pearl in the Southern Italian scenario.

In 2011 Feudi di San Gregorio, the leading winery in the South of Italy and present in the Vulture region for over ten years, decided to start a project reclaiming its ancient tuff stone caves in the “Shesh”, the historic Park of cellars of Barile, and revamping this ancestral context. This move was animated by the firm belief in the uniqueness of this extraordinary viticulture area.The acquisition of Basilisco with its beautiful tuff stone cellars and its vineyards in the most vocated location accomplished the plan and gave birth to a space of astonishing beauty in the historical heart of the Aglianico del Vulture production.

Viviana Malafarina is the “face and the soul” of Basilisco: she manages all the aspects of the winery and work with huge passion in the cellar guided by Pierpaolo Sirch who is also responsible for the vineyards.

THE HISTORY OF THE CELLARS

The winery Basilisco is located in Via delle Cantine, in a XVIth century noble palace.

The areas of vinification and storage are inside the fascinating caves chosen by Pierpaolo Pasolini to set his movie “Il Vangelo secondo Matteo”.
In the XVth century, several groups of Albanian refugees escaped from Turkish pressure, settled down in some areas of Southern Italy creating proper enclaves which are still existing. Barile is an arbereshe (Italian-Albanian ethnic group) settlement and the dozens caves in the tuff stone, characterizing its landscape, have been dig by the colonists as a shelter.Many tunnels twist and turn inside the tuff stone underneath the village.

The caves facing North have a stable 16-18 °C degrees temperature, therefore are ideal as storage and they’ve always been used for processing and preserving oil and wine.

As in the old days, in the 8 caves of Basilisco, Aglianico del Vulture is vinified and set to rest inside the silent meander of the volcano.

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