Leonardo, wine genius at Milano Wine Week

Milano Wine Week, a Milan-based event celebrating Italian wine excellence, from 6 to 13 October 2019 will be the setting for recounting the important research, investigation and analysis work at the foundation of the project, born from the discovery of an unprecedented side of Leonardo as a winelover and winemaker. Leonardo had an authentic and everyday relationship with wine, and from observing and respecting nature, he had intuited a series of good practices to obtain a wine free from faults.

Leonardo da Vinci S.p.A has dedicated itself to recovering the Genius’s contribution to the world of wine, through the involvement of a group of experts such as Alessandro Vezzosi, an important Leonardo da Vinci scholar, who has sifted through Leonardian literature, deduced his relationship with nature, agriculture and the world of wine, and Luca Maroni, a sensory analyst, who has translated Leonardo’s indications into a method to which current techniques can be referred.

Testimony to this unprecedented version of Leonardo, brilliant also in wine, is a letter sent in 1515 by the Genius to his steward in Fiesole: it is here that Leonardo’s methodological observations are found, winemaking techniques now taken for granted but which for the time were pioneering – such as maximising grape quality, fertilising the vine with basic substances, and optimising the winemaking transformation through fermentation in closed barrels and frequent racking.

These indications have been assumed as guidelines by the technical, agronomic and winemaking staff of Leonardo da Vinci S.p.A. for the definition of a Leonardo® Method that, thanks to the use of modern vitoenological techniques, makes it possible to achieve Leonardo’s objective: obtaining first-rate grapes, then
wines of excellent quality.

The Leonardo® Method today is a viticultural and winemaking specification – exclusive and secret – of Leonardo da Vinci S.p.A. which it shares with trusted wineries throughout Italy that commit to adopting it. The best of the production is then delivered to Leonardo Da Vinci Spa for its distribution. The application of this method is reflected today in the production of 5 wine collections, representative of Italian wine excellence.