Matane 1 Items

Neil and Maria Empson have been selecting Italy’s finest wines for over thirty-six years. In February 2007, they were joined by their daughter, Tara Smeralda, fresh from her studies and a course in wine tasting at the Associazone Italiana Sommeliers. Exactly one year later, the family visited some friends in the Salento peninsula, the southernmost portion of Puglia and Italy’s easternmost area: a land – geographically and culturally – of extremes and dramatic beauty, stretching out between two seas. Here, the Empsons fell in love with the dazzling, colorful landscape: lush, dark red soil bathed in Mediterranean sunlight and constantly windswept by the salty air currents of the Adriatic and Ionian seas. This amazing palette of colors and sensations nurtures superb old vineyards and native varieties.

When Neil, Maria and Tara tasted the silky, seductive, structured reds crafted by Filippo Baccalaro for Valentino Sciotti, the Matané project (from Maria, Tara & Neil) began to take shape. It was then that a joint venture was decided between the Empsons, Valentino and Filippo. When Neil & Maria began pioneering Italy’s fine wine exports, the Italian potential had barely been recognized, much less explored. Today, something very like that pioneering spirit has inspired Matané. This exciting new project promises to explore, enhance and export the richness and excellence of Salento soil and its unique wines.