Donna Elvira

BACKGROUND

So named after the Italian mamma of proprietor, Tony (Antonio) Fink, who met his father, Artur, a prisoner-of-war Austrian of few words, in the UK, in the 1950s. They eventually retired to Italy to enjoy a slower pace of life where the sun shines 250 days a year. Tony married an English girl called Kay and, having started their life together in Campania, they moved to the UK in 1995.
However, they couldn’t forget that part of Italy that Sophocles called the home of Bacchus and, in 2010, they returned: “We bought our first land in the sweet spot for these grapes: 400-450m above sea level, south-facing. We cleared the land of the boulders from the volcanic eruptions of Vesuvius and Vulture from the late Stone Age. We lovingly planted our first vines and spent the next ten years pruning, tying, cleaning them and more importantly, learning, the same way you learn when you have your first child.”

VINEYARDS & WINEMAKING

Overseen by agronomist and general manager, Mirco Colella, Donna Elvira now comprises 10 hectares of vineyards in four different municipalities: Montemiletto, Lapio, Montefusco, and Santa Paolina. There are 3 hectares of Greco, 4 of Aglianico, 2 of Falanghina and a half hectare of Fiano. Whites are harvested by hand with an initial pre-selection in the vineyards, the harvested grapes further sorted on two tables (vibrating sorter table and roller sorter table), then de-stemmed and gently pressed, moved to steel tanks for fermentation at controlled temperatures, and matured on fine less for 12 months. The red wines are fermented at controlled temperatures for 10-25 days, pressed and transferred to stainless steel tanks for malolactic fermentation, then matured in a variety of ages and sizes of oak barriques.