He makes some of the most exclusive wines in the world, but he doesn't want you to drink them.
Tullio Masoni, an entrepreneur, art collector and former investment banker, created what he describes as the world's smallest vineyard atop a 16th-century palace in the heart of Reggio Emilia, an area that has given Italy some of its world-famous exports, including Ferrari and Lamborghini cars, culinary staples such as lasagna, tortellini, Prosciutto di Parma and Ragù alla Bolognese.
He grows grapes on the roof of Via Mari 10 - the address of the building and the name of the winery itself - a place famous because in 1859 it was visited by Giuseppe Garibaldi, the revolutionary who helped unify Italy. At just over 200 square meters, Via Mari 10 produces just 29 bottles of red wine a year, which Mason values ??at €5,000.
"My wine is a form of artistic expression, a philosophical provocation, something to keep in your living room so you can talk about it with your friends and tell them about the madman who put a vineyard on the roof ", he told CNN . "My vineyard is like that: it's unexpected; it stimulates the brain; it sparks new thoughts."
The connection between wine and art begins with the fruit, because the vines grow in trellises that are actually works of art made by a local sculptor, Oscar Accorsi. "My grape faces art as soon as it blooms," Masoni said. The wine is placed in oak barrels, which are also sculptures by another local artist, Lorenzo Menozzi, and are meant to represent a man and a woman.
"I'm the only winemaker in the world who says you shouldn't drink his wine," he added.
The vines, which are Sangiovese, “feed” on eggs, bananas, seaweed, according to Masoni, but he says their “diet” also includes the sounds coming from the neighborhood—the bickering, cursing and different dialects, making them given an advantage over the village grape, which grows only in silence.
What does it taste like? "At first sip you'll be confused, but after a few seconds something comes alive on your palate that opens your mind to another dimension," he told CNN.
Of course, we must accept this saying; he asks us not to try it and we respect it.
