I was born in the bustling capital of Rome; but as a child my grandfather would take to his vineyards in Sardegna during harvest time, still today I can perfectly remember the smell of his “domestic” cellar during the vinification process. He taught me to never stop being curious and that wine is everywhere; it’s in the air we breathe, and you can feel it in our history and traditions.
The most emotive wines for me are those that are testimonials to their terroir. I think that wine should marry place, culture and tradition. I could spend just as long tasting an albarino from Rias Baixas as I would a vintage Barolo. I am always thinking about how food and wine can adapt to each other; a fresh oyster after a sip of Marsala Vergine or sweet Malvasia with fresh prawn tartare with Salina’s capers and salt flakes.
The bottles we have chosen for Capofaro are those that interpret all the elements of the place where they are made. I don’t believe that wine lists should be simple, exhaustive lists, but instead treasure troves of stories, where each bottle recounts the history of its provenance. I would like to call the wine list a ‘Enciclopedia Enografica’, where there is the possibility to include the concept of a ‘geo-sensoriale tasting’, something that Jaky Rigaux talked about many years ago. Therefore the wines in the list are subdivided by latitude, an essential element in wine making; we are not talking about Sicilian, Italian or French wines, but about geography, and how wine is a medium of culture.
