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NATURAL WINES BY AL DI LÀ DEL FIUME
Danila Mongardi and Gabriele Monti started Al di là del Fiume in 2006 at Marzabotto, in the hills south of Bologna, looking across to the Monte Sole park. It is a whole farm rather than just a vineyard: around 27 hectares, of which only 3 are vines, with the rest given to vegetables, old fruit trees, heritage wheat and medicinal herbs. The soils are mostly sandy with some limestone and clay, at about 230 metres. They grow only local grapes: Albana, Barbera, Pignoletto, Montuni and the rare Alionza.
Most of the wines ferment and age in clay amphorae, with wild yeasts and no added sulphur. Fricandò is pure Albana left on its skins for around ten days, a structured, tangy orange wine. Zirudèla is the lighter everyday white, built on Albana and Montuni, and its name is Bolognese dialect for the family stories told at weddings and celebrations.