Tenuta I Fauri – Wine is my family, my passion, my love… and them it’s a way of life!

Tenuta I Fauri is a family property located on the hills of Maiella, in the province of Chieti (Abruzzo, Italy), a land producing wine for over 2,000 years. The property is currently managed with passion by Domenico, Luigi and Valentina DiCamillo, respectively father, son and daughter. Rich in know-how passed down from generation to generation for over 100 years, they work daily to perpetuate local wine traditions, work on quality and make their region better known.

T he property covers 35 hectares planted with vines, spread over six different soils / municipality (Chieti, Francavilla al Mare, Miglianico, Ari, Bucchianico and Villamagna). Every year Tenuta I fauri produces 7 different still wines (Baldovino Montepulciano, Baldovino Cerasuolo, Baldovino Trebbiano, Ottobre Rosso, Passerina, Pecorino, Rosso dei Fauri) and 3 sparkling wines (Alba Rosa Rosato Frizzante, Graffio Nero Rosso Frizzante, Spumante dei Fauri ).

Let’s go together to meet Valentina di Camillo.

What do you make the choice to be a winemaker ?
“Actually, I’m the 3rd generation. I grew up in a family of winemakers and farmers. I was not sure about following this path. To be honest, at the end of high school I did not choose to work in the world of wine. I first went to study at a university of bio-chemistry to become a pharmacist. At this time and more particularly in this part of Italy the world of wine was above all a man’s world. However, at the end of my studies I realized that what I really wanted was to live and work in the vineyard. I had just realized that it was my destiny to become a winemaker even though I knew it would be difficult for me as a woman. However, I decided to follow this path, so I resumed my studies to become a winegrower so that I could one day take over the family vineyard. Today it is not so rare to find a woman winemaker, it is even more and more ‘normal’ in my area.”

Where does the name of Tenuta I Fauri come from?
“It come from an area where we have a very little country house and where one of my ancestors was born. All around there was a monastery where priests made olive oils, wines and some other products from agriculture. The name of the priests corporation was Faury. Also we found on our property a big stone where there is artwork (two lions with a ram). We currently use as our logo. It’s a symbol of — christianity.” (Valentina Di Camillo, owner & winemaker)

What does wine mean to you ?
“First, wine is my family and them it’s a way of life. It’s a complete work. I mean it’s full of satisfaction, happiness, a gift from Mother Nature but you also have to face different kinds of vintages and different problems… However, I really enjoy a lot what we do. I’m really pround to preserve my rural roots, my heritage / origins. If I think about wine I think about my father, my grand-father and my great grand-father around the table, drinking wine, having really good and handmade food. It’s Italy ! We have a gorgeous variety of wines in italy (different terroir, grapes, approach, region…etc). It’s a part of our way of life. “

What make your terroir so specific?
“I live in an almost undiscovered region, the Abruzzo region. I mean it’s not yet so famous like Tuscany or Piemonte because we are really hard workers but we have to open the beauty of this region to the world and it’s the right time to do it. As the beauty, the strength is the fact there is a big contrast between big mountains and really a few kilometers far from the Adriatic Sea. So, the strength of the mountains and the freshness of the sea made the beauty of our terroir. We try to summarize this in our wines. You have to feel the power of the variety, the mountains and in same time the acidity and the freshness due to the sea. It’s a kind of half of way between to the beauty of one side and the other side of the region.

Basically, we are farmers. We really love choosing the land where we will grow vines, to choose a good quality of soil, a right and great terroir. It’s a big challenge to manage all this kind of terroir but each one has its proper style, identity and expression. It’s a challenge but a chance to learn more about wines.”

What is the signature of your wines?
“I think the first fact is all wines that we produce are very expressive of the variety. We don’t use oak too much because we don’t want to cover up to much the grape’s flavors. All our wines are very clean, gastronomic and food friendly. They keep our mouth very clean. They have a big personality due to the respect of the land where they’re from but also the respect of our tradition (many vast traditions). We really want to feel the roots, the earth/terroir and the grapes. We want to make wines showcase the season and the vintage because everyone is different and we must taste/feel the difference. You should be able to feel the sun if it was a sunny vintage or the rain if it was rainy season. It’s very important to us ! It makes the difference between a wine and a standardized drink.”

Do you have any future plans for the winery?
“We have just rebuilt the old farm house of the family. We want to be able to host people who come to visit us and to keep them with us… it’ll be a kind of Bed & breakfast. We want to create a family atmosphere, to go deeper into our family, roots and region. We want to provide a personal and strong wine experience.”

Thank you to Valentina for the warm welcome.

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