Tenimenti Terre Imperiali represent the realization of an agricultural project — and specifically a viticultural one — that is completely different from the landscape currently existing and from the commercial offerings in the wine world.
Indeed, Tenimenti Terre Imperiali constitute a unique model in this field, as they comprise a collection of properties owned by a single noble House, which are made available to third parties, namely producers, for the cultivation of land specifically suited to vineyards.
Unlike what normally occurs, Tenimenti Terre Imperiali allow selected producers of some of the most prestigious premium wines of Piedmont to expand their vineyard holdings without having to invest in the purchase of land.
More specifically, the offering is structured as follows:
- Granting of land already planted with vineyards through agricultural lease agreements, with variable durations of 3, 5, 10, or 15 years, depending on requests and individual cases.
- Granting of land not yet planted with vineyards through agricultural lease agreements, with variable durations of 10 to 15 years, depending on requests and individual cases, and subject to different agreements regarding planting and establishment costs.
OUR HISTORY
Every story, every adventure begins with an idea tied to a need. And many stories are born by chance, as if they had been waiting only to come to life. The love for the land — and specifically for vineyards and their noble child, wine — began long ago, around 1860, in the Roero region near Canale d’Alba, where Cosimo Simone Montrucchio di Valpone, better known as “Munin,” produced and traded bulk wine with some friends, selling it primarily in Turin. On the opposite side of Canale, Giuseppe Costa was engaged in the same kind of business at the end of the 19th century. A simple story, yet one common to many people born and raised in this blessed land of wines.
 |
| Original label of Giuseppe Costa's Grignolino wine, from Canale (CN) |
But, as in every good story, Destiny reshuffled the cards and transformed an ordinary tale into a fairy tale: Munin’s daughter, wishing to free herself from village life, decided to move to Turin around the 1920s. There, she met a young scion of the ancient Sicilian aristocracy, who had come to the Savoy capital to study engineering at the Polytechnic and dreamed of writing poetry, as he had in his youth with his friend and classmate Salvatore Quasimodo.
The meeting of these two very different worlds was far from simple: Italy had been a unified country for only about sixty years, and its people were strangers to one another in habits and worldview. Yet, this union managed to take root in the land: the next generation acquired their first major property, Tenuta Ca’ Grossa in Barbaresco, which still today represents a unique estate within the Barbaresco region.
And, as fairy tales tend to feed on themselves and intertwine, the next generation — the current leaders of Tenimenti Terre Imperiali, equally in love with this rich and precious land — once again reshuffled the cards: if a century earlier two people from opposite ends of Italy had united, this time two people from opposite ends of Europe — Italy and Poland — came together. Here, Sicilian aristocracy joined with the great Mitteleuropean aristocracy, which, at the end of the 19th century, owned feudal estates totaling approximately 22,000 hectares.
But, as in every proper fairy tale (and one that seeks to repeat itself), the ending remains unpredictable: for if Italy was united first, and Europe later, it is also true that the roots in this story always reach backward — even if “backward” means eleven centuries.
Indeed, through Tenimenti Terre Imperiali, one does not merely travel geographically from west (La Morra) to east (Castelnuovo Calcea), from the Langhe to the Monferrato, passing through the Roero; one also experiences a journey through History and Legend, which envelops and cradles these green hills.
The journey — once again — begins long ago, in the Early Middle Ages, when the lands of Lower Piedmont were an integral part of the Holy Roman Empire; lands loyal to the temporal power of their sovereign, whose rule extended from the time of Charlemagne onward. Even today, when speaking of the Monferrato in particular, or of these lands in general, reference is often made to Aleramo as the founder of his House, to whom these territories were entrusted, albeit with boundaries that were not clearly defined.
Our story, however, begins just one step before this legendary figure: it begins with the one who granted these lands to Aleramo. At that precise historical moment, these lands — encompassing the entire Langhe, Roero, and Monferrato region — were fiefs directly belonging to Emperor Otto I the Great (A.D. 912–973).
 |
| The Emperor Otto I (A.D. 912-973) |
This ruler, not widely known today, exerted enormous cultural and political influence across Europe. He succeeded in consolidating and unifying his possessions, both by defending the eastern marches and by expanding his power into Italy.
In line with his policy, Emperor Otto the Great decided to grant an Italian march to one of his loyal vassals, Aleramo, giving him — according to legend — as much land as the knight could travel in three days. Thus, with the diploma of March 21, 967, Emperor Otto I assigned to Aleramo all the lands from the Tanaro River to the Orba River and extending to the sea.
This territory then became the Aleramic March, and later the Marquisate of Monferrato.
 |
| Imperial Diploma – March 21, 967 – Otto I (granting the lands of Lower Piedmont to Aleramo. In the lower left corner is visible the imperial signature) |
And so, traveling through time and space, after eleven centuries, the descendants of Aleramo and Emperor Otto I the Great have returned to their origins. Indeed, the latest generation — the future heirs who, due to their age, do not yet control Tenimenti Terre Imperiali — descend on both the paternal and maternal sides from Aleramo, the legendary founder of the Marquisate of Monferrato, through various collateral branches, as well as directly from Emperor Otto I. In honor of the latter, the estates were given the name — admittedly a rather grand one — Tenimenti Terre Imperiali, thus commemorating both the one who granted these lands in fief and the one who received them.
This is the fairy tale of a blessed land. It is the story of multiple families, united over the centuries by the passage of generations through their love for this land, who, as if by magic, remain connected to it and always return. It is the story of Tenimenti Terre Imperiali, which we now wish to share, so that memory may triumph over oblivion.
No comments:
Post a Comment