Nesos is born, a 'marine' wine born from an archeoenological project

FLORENCE - The 'marine' wine called 'Nesos' is born from a unique 'archaeoenological' scientific experiment conducted on the island of Elba. The experiment was carried out by the Arrighi company from Elba, which for 10 years has been involved in vinification in amphora, in collaboration with Professor Attilio Scienza, professor of viticulture at the University of Milan and Angela Zinnai and Francesca Venturi of the Viticulture course and oenology of the University of Pisa. Nesos was presented today in Florence as part of PrimAnprima. The project retraces, after 2500 years, the myth of the wine of Chios, a small island in the eastern Aegean, considered at the time a luxury product that was 'exported' and also sold in the markets of Marseille and Rome. Chio's was sweet and alcoholic, the only guarantee to withstand sea transport, but it had something that the other wines of the time did not have, a secret that the producers jealously kept and that made this product particularly aromatic: the presence of salt deriving from the practice of immersing grapes closed in baskets, in the sea, with the aim of removing the bloom from the peel and thus accelerating the drying in the sun, thus preserving the aroma of the vine. The grape used is Ansonica: a white grape typical of Elba, probable crossing of two ancient Aegean grapes, Rhoditis and Sideritis. The grapes were immersed in the sea for five days at about 10 meters deep and the sea salt by osmosis also penetrated inside, without damaging the grape. The next step takes place in terracotta amphorae. The presence of salt in the grape, with an antioxidant and disinfectant effect, has allowed us to try not to use sulphites, and after a year in bottle aging, it has produced an extremely natural wine, very similar to that produced 2500 years ago. Of this wine, harvest 2018, only 40 bottles were produced.