Piede Franco Farm is located on the island of Sant'Antioco, in the southwestern part of Sardinia, Major Island.
After relentless hard work to reclaim old abandoned vineyards, which lasted about 10 years, Roberto Matzeu decided to establish the winery in 2015, with the primary intent of wresting as many vineyards from abandonment as possible and restoring them to their former glory.
Roberto Matzeu, owner of Azienda Agricola Piede Franco and creator of Bellesa has already had the opportunity to demonstrate his talent, so much so that he is described as follows.
"In his experience as a winemaker there is everything, passion, the expertise acquired and recognized in the territories in which he works, the recovery of a form of farming and even more and a heroic viticulture made up of very small plots some of them centuries old that are in danger of vanishing forever due to abandonment." Cit. Prof. Attilio Scienza (NEXT IN WINE 2013 - BIBENDA 2014).
The Carignano grape variety
The Carignano del Sulcis vine is an ancient variety of probable Spanish import, which arrived in Sardinia during Aragonese rule (from 1323 AD).
It has since been cultivated with excellent success in Sulcis. Where it finds its highest expression in the Latin sapling form of cultivation on the sands of the island of Sant'Antioco.
Giving grapes rich in polyphenols, anthocyanins and good sugar content, capable of producing excellent aging wines.
The territory and the vineyards
In a unique territory, surrounded by the sea, made of sands immersed in the Mediterranean maquis, lashed by the salty mistral winds, these centuries-old vineyards that have escaped the scourge of phylloxera, find here an ideal habitat to best express the characteristics of a vine with the highest qualities.
From these unique natural monuments, from the oldest and most expressive vineyards, our wines are born.
Azienda Agricola Piede Franco di Calasetta currently produces Bellesa Rosso a Denominazione di Origine Controllata - Carignano del Sulcis, made from 100% Carignano grapes.
