Ds Bio

The company Ds Bio is located in the municipality of Pescosolido, in the province of Frosinone, 630 meters above sea level.

Danilo, tell us a little about the history of your farm.

Well, my company was born in 2012, and I represent the first generation because my parents did not deal with agriculture and owned land here in Pescosolido, but without having a business connected to them just like me, I did a different course of study from the agricultural one.

Despite this, my passions have always been wine and horses, and I did everything to make them meet, in fact, in my company, in addition to cultivating the native vines of the territory I also breed horses, like the Pony of Esperia which is an endangered breed typical of the lower Lazio.

My farm consists of 21 hectares in total, but only 2 and a half hectares of vineyards. The remaining part is occupied by olive groves, pasture meadows for horses, as well as various crops, and woods that give a great biodiversity and where you can find different tree species that enrich the ecosystem contributing to the sustainability of the surrounding environment.

2 and a half hectares of vineyards are spread over 12 different plots because of the territory that is quite jagged, being mainly a mountain area and therefore characterized by small patches of land where small vineyards need to be planted, according to sun exposure, inclination, and study for each plot which vine to grow.

What are the native vines you grow in your vineyards?

The vines I grow are Maturano, Lecinaro and Giulia grapes.

These vines have always existed in this territory but it has only been a few decades that they have been rediscovered, as farmers preferred more generous and easy to grow vines. Even the Giulia grape has been registered in the register of native vines just this year, it is a grape that is only found in the territory of Pescosolido and few other neighboring territories, and currently our company is the only one to vinify it. Giulia grape is present in the percentage of 20% in “Volumnia” wine, but together with our wine maker we are studying a possible future vinification in purity.

In addition, we cultivate plots with plants with frank foot that are part of the land that I have recovered from my grandfather, plants that have an average age of 100/120 years and are raised with the system of trees married to the olive, the ancient cultivation technique of the central Apennines and the working land, because our territory, Pescosolido, is now in Lazio but until 100 years ago it was part of the Kingdom of the two Sicilies and was a town in the province of Caserta.

The first official harvest took place in 2016 where we produced only 3000 bottles. It was a vintage blessed with luck as the Company won the award for best white wine at Autocthona, the fair that takes place in Bolzano and rewards all the wines from native vines, and I must say that it was a nice springboard because thanks to that award, Ds Bio has become popular to national chronicles so you will understand that it was a nice debut for us.

Today our production is around 12/15,000 bottles, but the Company is expanding because these days we are planting two more plots with the goal of reaching the 5 hectares of vines that I think we will reach in the next 4/5 years, with a total production of about 35,000 bottles.

What methods of cultivation applied in the vineyard?

The company is certified both as organic and biodynamic agriculture since its inception, so from the first day we have used biodynamic preparations (horn manure and silica) which for us is the only possible choice for an uncontaminated territory like the one in which we we find, where subsistence agriculture has always been practiced at the family level so chemistry has never been used, thus preserving an ecosystem that has remained unchanged for at least a century, so only fools could have ruined such a balance by doing conventional agriculture.

I also owe a lot to some experts who recommended me as best as Carlo Noro, one of the greatest biodynamic preparation makers, and my Enologist Michele Lorenzetti. It was they who taught me a more concrete approach towards biodynamics, also contextualized to the territory and climate change.

Danilo, can you tell us about how the grapes are vinified?

We ferment spontaneously, we use very low amounts of sulfur dioxide and all the wines currently on the market are vinified in cement or steel, for example Palmieri ( Lecinaro alone) makes only steel, while the other three wines ( Matre, Arcaro and Volumnia) are vinified exclusively in cement.

We do not use wood because it would mean covering the minerality of wines with tertiary hints, in fact our territory is rich in limestone and minerals such as bauxite which, through biodynamic agriculture, are passed on to the wines and which we like to find in the glass.

It should also be said that the vines we cultivate are not suitable to make steps in wood as they are not tannic vines, so they do not need to be softened. Only the Giulia grape, which at the moment is not vinified alone, in a future will need the passage in wood to smooth its high tannins.

Racking is carried out by gravity without the use of pumps in order not to cause stress to the wine.

Wines have a period of aging in bottle of one year, as we keep to a good degree of stabilization of wines that, having a very low content of sulfur dioxide, it is right to rest in bottle for a longer time.