The tradition of dry stone walls. Silent and tireless custodians of a humble and precious heritage
Liguria is the greatest custodian of a World Heritage Site defined as intangible: the dry stone walls, which in local jargon are called maixei. Hundreds of thousands of kilometers of ancient stones fitted together, in a bond strengthened by time and the daily work of generations of people.
“It took a lot of patience, patience in the blue, to raise all these walls” wrote Francesco Biamonti, a Ligurian poet. Created to make our territory cultivable and protect it from landslides and rain, the dry stone walls have given rise to breathtaking landscapes. Our winemakers are the silent guardians since they still cultivate by hand, renouncing the mechanization that would require them to be sacrificed. They continually restore the maixei that collapse, give way, dismantle. In this way they keep alive not only historical pieces, shaped by the ancient Ligurians and a symbol of the place and tradition, but actual elements of environmental protection, defending centuries-old cultivations. Maixei therefore, as earth containment and maintenance of ancient memory. We continue to believe in drywall, to exercise the patience of ancient man who valued the “little but good”, to experience the joy of having a genuine product on the table, followed by us since its birth.
Pure vinification, manual work, artisanal vineyard management
What makes our wines unique is the choice to make wine in purity, a tradition of the Riviera di Ponente that Maixei respects, passing on manual work techniques and artisanal management of the vineyards. What does pure winemaking mean? Our reds are made exclusively from Rossese bunches and the whites from Vermentino and Pigato grapes, grown in our territory. The purity of the wine does not just mean the absence of cuts and blends: it means the absence of foreign elements, impurities, authentic flavor and respect for tradition. We ensure that the must transformation processes are minimal and authentic, to return a wine ready to give its very personal bouquet.
Our Cooperative, full of stubborn, passionate and determined souls, was born and works to enhance the characteristics of the territory with its particular and unique combinations of climate and soil: our terroir. If they asked us to give up our viticulture techniques… we would no longer be Maixei.
