The Hermitage & the First True Wine

The story of Agricola Caprera is a story of friendship, conversion, and the conviction that a single glass of wine can change a life. Luca Paolo Virgilio and Alfonso Morelli have been family friends since forever. They did not grow up on farms; they had no tradition in agriculture, no inherited vineyards, no generational knowledge to lean on. What they had was curiosity, a shared taste for authenticity, and a belief that something true was waiting in the wild heart of Abruzzo. It all started from a glass — a stunning taste, the first true wine in Luca Paolo's life — a winemaker who became a friend, the experience of a Sicilian harvest, then a small vineyard rented almost for fun. Then came biodynamic agriculture and permaculture classes, artisan wine fairs, and the organisation of a local fair with friends. The call of a land that always felt distant grew day by day. Finally, the decision to start.

In 2012, Luca Paolo and Alfonso travelled extensively through Abruzzo looking for a piece of land. When they arrived in Contrada Vasca, Pietranico, it was love at first sight. A deep sense of peace and freedom. The silence of wind and wild animals. An intimate immersion in the realm of nature. A remote corner, almost a hermitage, far from the interference of modernity. There were olive trees and plenty of woods, but no vineyard. It did not matter. They would plant it, choose it, grow it. This is where Caprera would be born. In 2013, they began to farm the land and concluded their first olive oil campaign. In 2014, they planted their first two vineyards: almost one hectare of Montepulciano, and half a hectare of Trebbiano. In 2016, after four years of patience, they finally harvested their first grapes. That same year, they planted two more vineyards. By the beginning of 2018, their first vintage was entirely bottled and ready to meet new tasters. Finally, they began to build their new cellar — rising up in Caprera, on top of the Montepulciano vineyard, where everything started.

The journey was not easy. They had no family tradition, no specific studies behind them. Only readings, classes, and exchange with colleagues and professionals. Every day they learned something new. This is a truly exciting, stimulating, beautiful work — so complex and difficult. Every day is different, like the seasons, like the vintages. As Luca Paolo puts it: "It all started from a glass. And there it went back. In between, the earth." The support and inspiration of scions of Italian natural wine such as Emidio Pepe and Francesco Guccione gave them a compass — a proof that organic farming, low-intervention winemaking, and native varieties could produce wines of profound clarity and evocative intensity in the wild zones of Abruzzo. They sourced vine material from their friends at Emidio Pepe, planting Trebbiano Abruzzese and Montepulciano d'Abruzzo with cuttings from one of the most respected estates in the region. This was not merely a practical choice; it was a philosophical alignment — a declaration that Caprera would walk the same path of authenticity, patience, and respect for the land.

Today, Luca Paolo and Alfonso are supported and inspired by a growing community of natural wine enthusiasts, distributors, and fellow producers who recognise in Caprera something rare: a farm that is genuinely a farm, not a brand. A place where vineyards, olive groves, woods, and bees coexist in a 22-hectare organism that is greater than the sum of its parts. Their wines are superb, versatile, and energetic — clean, but intensely proud of their place and personality. And their Cerasuolo — the rosé of Montepulciano that is the signature wine of Abruzzo — is pure but pulsating, deft yet never timid: the magic of Abruzzo, captured in a bottle.

The guiding philosophy of Agricola Caprera is expressed in three words: nature, respect, and clarity. Luca Paolo and Alfonso are committed to winemaking that is in constant dialogue with the land — a framework that allows them to combine the experiences of the past with the dreams of the present to create wines of the future. This is not a reaction against modernity; it is a deeper application of it: if the soil is limestone and bluish clay marl, the grapes are healthy, and the process is clean, nothing needs to be added. The wines are not manufactured; they are shepherded — each cuvée a reflection of the vintage, the variety, and the patient, empirical intuition of two friends who learned by doing.

The methodology is deliberately minimal and fundamentally Abruzzese. All grapes are hand-harvested across the few hectares of vines, and transported immediately to the cellar. Fermentation is spontaneous — initiated by the indigenous yeasts that live on the grape skins and in the mountain air of Pietranico. Luca Paolo and Alfonso do not inoculate with cultured yeasts, adjust temperatures aggressively, or force the wine into a predetermined shape. The crushing takes place in the ancient stone vats — le vasche — rupestrian rock basins that have been used for winemaking in this region for untold ages. These vessels are not merely historical curiosities; they are functional tools that allow gentle extraction, natural temperature moderation, and a connection to the pre-industrial winemaking tradition of Abruzzo.

The additives protocol is minimal: low sulfur, with the goal of allowing the entire native yeast flora to fully unfold during winemaking — it stabilises and preserves the wine naturally, a strength that comes from within. The wines are aged without oak — a deliberate choice that preserves the purity of the fruit, the clarity of the limestone minerality, and the honest, unvarnished voice of the grape. No oak means no vanilla, no toast, no heavy wood intrusion; only the wine, the stone, and the mountain. The wines are bottled with minimal sulfur, unfiltered where possible, preserving their natural brightness, their living texture, and their evolving clarity. This demands absolute cleanliness in the cellar, perfect grape health in the vineyard, and a willingness to accept that each vintage will be slightly different from the next — because each vintage is a conversation between the land and the season, not a product of a recipe.

The cellar is not a technological facility; it is an extension of the farm — a space where stone vats, indigenous yeasts, and the patience of two friends do the work. There is no temperature-controlled tank farm dictating additions, no consultant recommending corrective enzymes, no recipe that overrides the vintage. There is only Luca Paolo, Alfonso, the grapes, the stone vats, and the patience to let the wine take the time it needs. The result is a portfolio of wines that are honest, spontaneous, and alive — wines that change in the glass, that evolve in the bottle, and that carry the unmistakable signature of a farm that has been learning to listen to limestone and wind for over a decade. As one importer notes: "These are beautifully pure, savory wines from Abruzzo — clean, but intensely proud of their place and personality."

To understand Agricola Caprera, one must understand that it is not merely a winery; it is a farm organism, a hermitage, and a proof that two friends with no tradition can build a truth. The identity of the project is defined by the wild heart of Abruzzo — the 22 windswept hectares dominated by forests, the remote corner far from modernity, and the conviction that nature is the master and the man's hand guides respectfully. The identity is also defined by friendship — Luca Paolo and Alfonso, family friends since forever, who started from a glass of wine and found their way back to the earth. The identity is also defined by clarity — wines that are clean but intensely proud, pure but never timid, mountain wines that feel simultaneously clear and complex.

The identity is also defined by community and lineage — the support and inspiration of Emidio Pepe and Francesco Guccione, the vine material sourced from the Pepe family, and the alignment with a broader Italian natural wine movement that values organic farming, low-intervention winemaking, and native varieties. The farm is not a monoculture; it is a living ecosystem of vineyards, olive groves, woods, grains, and bees, where biodiversity is the foundation and the goal is not maximum yield but maximum authenticity. The result is a portfolio of wines that are not merely products but expressions of a place and a friendship — each bottle a testament to the conviction that wine should be authentic, clear, and full of mountain truth.

The future of Agricola Caprera is tied to the continued health of their few hectares of limestone and bluish clay marl vineyards, the deepening of organic and biodynamic practices, and the gradual expansion of a portfolio that already spans white, rosé, and red. Luca Paolo and Alfonso are eager to go further — to experiment with longer macerations, to explore new expressions of Passerina and Trebbiano, and to obtain ever more natural, clear expressions from the fruit of their own Pietranico soils. The Le Vasche Cerasuolo will continue to be the flagship, the magic of Abruzzo captured in a bottle. The La Fortuna will continue to be the white wine soul of the estate. And the Briccone will continue to remind us that wine can be serious and mischievous at the same time.

In an age of increasing industrialisation in wine — of global varieties, engineered yeasts, and corporate consolidation — Agricola Caprera stands as a compelling alternative, not because it rejects modernity but because it has embraced a deeper modernity: one that values certified organic and biodynamic farming over chemical convenience, indigenous yeasts over inoculation, stone vats over stainless steel uniformity, no oak over wood intrusion, minimal sulfur over preservative excess, native varieties over global clones, vine material from Emidio Pepe over commercial nursery stock, farm organism over monoculture, friendship and empirical learning over inherited expertise, and the specific voice of Pietranico over the standardised replication of a global style. Luca Paolo Virgilio and Alfonso Morelli are not merely making wine; they are proving that two friends with no family tradition can build a farm from nothing, that a remote hermitage in Abruzzo can produce wines of international recognition, that a wine with nothing added but limestone truth can possess the most profound identity, and that the simplest philosophy — nature is the master, farming is at the core, the man's hand guides respectfully — is often the most profound. From the first olive oil campaign in 2013 to the 2024 release: all united in one farm, one friendship, one unanswerable argument for the possibility of authentic, organic, stone-vat, hand-made, passionately honest wine from the wild heart of Abruzzo.