Le Fracce

The farm Le Fracce, was founded in 1905 and owned by the Fondazione Avv. F. Bussolera e Lina Branca Bussolera. Given the enhancement of the natural peculiarities of the lands and vines, it has always been especially aware of environmental and territorial protection. It is based in Mairano di Casteggio, in the heart of Oltrepò Pavese. Le Fracce is in all respects an estate bottled “cru” with unique land and climate characteristics, especially favorable for top wine production.

The history of Le Fracce largely identifies with Lawyer Fernando Bussolera, a peculiar country gentleman closely tied to his native Oltrepò land. Lawyer Bussolera continued the work of his father Giulio (the founder of the company in 1905), anticipating many of the current environmental issues and focusing on the enhancement of natural ground resources and full respect for the environment, giving up the use of artificial pesticides and herbicides, as well as limiting the use of fertilizers to the needs of the individual vineyards. The center of Le Fracce is a nineteenth-century mansion-house with several annexes, located in the middle of a park that Lawyer Bussolera populated with animals, his great passion, and period cars and carriages. The company’s wines are named after these passions: the red Bohemi, the pride of Le Fracce, is named after a legendary thoroughbred bought from the Shah of Persia, Landò recalls one of the carriages included in the collection of Fondazione Bussolera.

The house is dominated by a low hill, always known as Cirgà (like another great red wine of Le Fracce), because its rounded surface, with a small rose garden on the top, looks like the clerical tonsure (“cirgà” in the local dialect). The farm spreads over 247 acres, of which just less than half is covered with vineyard, and produces more than 240,000 bottles annually. The ground composition allows for planting grapes capable of providing their best expression respectively: grounds with calcareous-loamy textures, exposed to the east, for example, are dedicated to white varieties (Renano Riesling and Pinot Gris), as well as to early-maturing red ones (Pinot Noir), while loamy and loamy-sandy grounds, exposed to the south, are dedicated to native red grapes (Croatina, Barbera, and Uva Rara). This land-management style allows characterizing and customizing the individual wines based on a well-balanced grapes-territory relation. The respectful management of the vineyards is aimed at obtaining top-quality grapes, easily maturing, and capable of providing highly concentrated extracts, which make the wines of Le Fracce an expression of tradition, excellence, and quality. To demonstrate his love for the land and his bond with Oltrepò Pavese, Lawyer Bussolera set up, Le Fracce, the Foundation bearing his and his wife’s name.

The primary purpose of the Foundation-acknowledged in 1999 by the Region of Lombardy - is, to promote the development and spread of research, science, technology, and professional training in enology and other specialized sectors of agriculture and of the relevant processing industry, with a special focus on the typical products of Oltrepo’. The current structure of Le Fracce, whose production is supervised by oenologist Roberto Gerbino, is the outcome of a reorganization that started in the 1980s with a refurbishment of the cellars, the introduction of new equipment, the adoption of breakthrough technologies, and the focused management of the vineyards.

Today the company drives the development of Oltrepò, the promotion of local produce and tourism, the valorization of native species, and the environment’s protection. The company faces the challenges of the third millennium with a strategy opposing the main standard, based, on the one hand, on the enhancement of old vineyards and on the revival of native varieties (Barbera, Croatina, Pinot Noir: the symbols of the territory of Le Fracce) and, on the other, on the creation of new wines and the modernization of wine-making techniques. This opening to the new, while focusing on the valorization of the local historical wealth, characterized Le Fracce through an unusual mix of modernity and tradition.

Vineyard Management: Treatments in the vineyard is limited, without the use of antibiotics and synthetic products. The pruning system used is the Guyot for greater quality uniformity. Annual meticulous pruning to exclude the less uniform bunches before the ripening of grapes in July. The rigorous choice of the winery is to obtain the greatest quality through the work done in the fields. Conducting directly in the vineyards and in the cellars the research funded by the Bussolera-Branca Foundation, which aims to enhance the agricultural and viticultural heritage of Pavia, Le Fracce carries out the cultivation of the vineyards with eco-sustainable criteria. Thanks to the results of research, and the preparation of the new plants, during the planting of the seedlings, “attinomiceti” - natural fungi that protect the young roots from pathologies - have been used, favoring healthy and ecological growth.

Harvest: The bunches are harvested by hand at different times depending on ripeness and performing a strict selection to eliminate any imperfection. The immediate addition of dry ice allows them to preserve perfumes and avoid oxidation risks, to vinify only the highest quality grapes.