HISTORY
My father taught me how much the Romans valued hilly, rocky slopes for their vineyards. “Grow your grapes on the hills and your tomatoes in the valley,” my father often reminded me. Another way to say this is “Bacco Ama le Colline,” or “Bacchus loves the hills,” which gave the name to our wine. Slopes and rocky soil trap less water, and the water table itself is often further from the surface. This stresses the vines as their roots search for water, and the more the vines struggle, the better the grapes are for making wine. The fruits are smaller and more concentrated in flavor, with relatively thick skins which provide tannins for structure. Because the roots have to extend to find water, they have more surface area exposed to the minerals in the soil, which adds desirable character and a sense of place to the juice. As a result, mountain grown red wines tend to be darker and richer than their spoiled valley floor cousins.
