Tenuta Ponte

Driving to Alessandro di Stasio’s estate for the first time, we asked the winemaker about the property’s name. “Ponte means bridge”, he told us, “and Hannibal’s army built one here around 215 B.C.E.” When we asked where this bridge had stood exactly, he responded nonchalantly, “oh, it’s still here—in fact, we just drove over it.” Although winemaking skipped a generation in his family (his father lost the estate, then saved up and bought it back!), Alessandro says that he and his brothers definitely “heard the cry of the land”. Today, Alessandro is a visionary by Southern Italian standards: he convinced his brothers to update the winery’s techniques, convert to solar energy, and avoid producing bulk wine like their neighbors. Low yields, annual green harvests, and quality over quantity are the driving forces at Tenuta Ponte. Alessandro’s favorite thing about his family’s estate? Refering to the famous aromas of the Aglianico grape, he says he loves to stand in the fields and “smell all the white pepper and ripe plum in the air.”