FROM THE BLADE OF GRASS TO THE WOOL YARN
The woolen thread on the LUNARIA ANCESTRALE wine bottles tells the importance of a wonderful animal: the sheep.
Cantina Orsogna with the fleece of its own sheep produces the wool thread utilized for the binding of LUNARIA ANCESTRALE bottles..
The biodynamic project LUNARIA ANCESTRALE, based on principles of the circular economy, uses wool yarn in order to reevaluate this precious material. Once they were considered priceless treasures, today the woolen blankets are worth nothing and end up in ecological landfills. Wool is a high quality natural fiber that can be worn for a long time and is biodegradable at the end of its long life.
CANTINA ORSOGNA: SHEEP IN VINEYARD
The cultivation of our vineyards is in harmony with nature, earth and men through methods that bring fertility and vitality to the soil. During winter months our organic and biodynamic members offer their vineyards for grazing the morre (flocks in Italian) coming from our stables and from the Maiella shepherds. Cold winters in the Abruzzo mountains and the hot summers in the plain force shepherds to move their flocks seasonally. Therefore sheep can find, at any time of the year, the most suitable place to feed and produce quality wool, milk and meat. An ancient practice that began in autumn (ritually on 29th of September, the day dedicated to St. Michael, protector of shepherds) and the return to the mountains coincided with the beginning of summer. About 3,000 sheep annually graze in our vineyards.
SHEEP AND SOIL FERTILITY
The earth is not an “inert” substrate, but a real living organism capable of assimilating, metabolizing and transforming the elements present in nature and returning them in the form of unique and irreplaceable complex nutritional molecules. During grazing, sheep transform plant biomass (grass) into organic fertilizer (sheep manure), which improves soil fertility and its macro and microbial life by increasing fertility, nutrient absorption and resistance against pathogens.
In the peasant tradition, shearing was a magical rite. Sheep got out dripping with water. Once dried, they were clipped using spring shears (two toothed metal sheets mounted parallel to each other). The shorn fleeces were rolled up with the fur part inside and sent to the wool mill.
The wool is sorted, carded, combed, spun and twisted to make the yarn stronger.
HAND-BINDING ON THE NECK OF THE BOTTLE
Cantina Orsogna with the fleece of its own sheep produces the wool thread utilized for the binding of LUNARIA ANCESTRALE bottles.
