For more than a hundred years my family has dedicated itself to the production of wine, placing attention on the territory without ever losing sight of the importance of pleasure .
It all starts with my great-grandfather Vincenzo (born in 1891), who decided to transform the beauty of making wine into a thriving business; his son Giovanni, after the war, gave substance to his father's dreams. Since then we have never stopped and today Cantine Astroni is a company committed to a project to protect and enhance native vines, between respect for traditions and modern winemaking techniques.
The company stands on the slopes of the Astroni crater, between Naples and Pozzuoli, a WWF natural oasis. This is a unique place, poised between the sea and the fire of the volcano .
The mission we have given ourselves is to promote Campania viticulture (and in particular the Flegrean one) and our main challenge is to cultivate the native pre-phylloxera vines (grown ungrafted): Falanghina and Piedirosso of the Campi Flegrei. The sandy volcanic soils have in fact prevented the proliferation of phylloxera, which in the mid-nineteenth century destroyed all of Europe's ampelographic heritage, except for a few areas, including ours and the Vesuvius area. This is why Campania is so rich in natives.
In recent years we have been engaged in a great work of reconversion and protection of the territory : new vineyards are added to those already present and each vintage is a new beginning, a new search for ever higher quality margins. We are in love with our territory and since 1999 we have started a valorization project : we organize guided tours, events, exhibitions and itineraries to discover the deepest soul of these places shrouded in myth, whose origins must be sought in the Greek world, whose influence exudes still today in these lands that so fascinated Goethe.
All this is possible thanks to the many people who believe in this family project : uncles, nephews but also all the staff, in the vineyard and in the cellar, in logistics and in the office, oenologists and agronomists, responsible for quality control, who are constantly committed , with equal commitment and enthusiasm, to continually improve our offer.
Gerardo Vernazzaro
