Il Mortellito - Dario Sorrentino

Mortellito is the name of the land where I have my roots. A two-hectare area of countryside where my great-grandparents lived in the early twentieth century. It is here that I decided to embark on my path as a winemaker, moving away from the norms of city life and returning to live in close relationship with the earth.

A choice made for my love for nature and for a place I’m in love with, which manages to enhance my greatest passions: the Land and the Sea. The local wine culture pushed me to go in search of genuine wines, made without forcing and using organic farming methods. Today we have about 23 hectares.

Our vineyard is a family business run by Dario, Valentina, Mario and Melina who have dedicated themselves to it, together with many friends who come to help during the different phases of our work. We aim to create wines that reflect the natural characteristics of the territory, wines with a distinct personality, away from fads. Our work is aimed at getting perfectly ripe and healthy grapes, because we believe that wine is primarily made in the vineyard and not with alterations and the methods used in the winery.

Our work in the winery aims to respect the character of the wine throughout the whole transformation process. For this reason, we implement spontaneous fermentation without adding selected yeasts to the must and we do not use wooden wine barrels when refining the wine to avoid altering the taste, which for us must maintain the identity of the variety and the territory that it represents. The only intervention is the addition of a minimal quantity of sulphur dioxide during bottling process, in order to guarantee better preservation.