2022 Cascina degli Ulivi Semplicemente Bianco

Where to start with the late Stefano Bellotti and Cascina degli Ulivi? Largely responsible for the legitimization of biodynamic viticulture and the eschewing of modern oenology since the early 1980's, Bellotti's vision has inspired a generation of younger vignaioli. 

In a world determined to categorize and explain everything with science, Stefano preached holism. Even more impressive, he created a blueprint to buck the system, to voice dissent and fight back against the commodification of nature and agriculture.

Cascina degli Ulivi produces wines from around 24 hectares of vines that have been worked biodynamically since 1985. The estate has been in the Bellotti family since the 1930’s but Stefano was the one who transformed it into what it is today. Before he took it over, the farm was more or less abandoned; Stefano, a city boy with no agricultural training, effectively started with a blank canvas. Through his own empirical observations, he progressively came to eschew chemicals in his vineyards, eventually leading him to the philosophies of Rudolph Steiner.