The meal we share, the food we eat is where our activism is rooted and links us to our fellow producers, the land, the biosphere, and to you our customers and supporters. 

At the moment the world around us feels a little tender to say the least, and looking at the Quintosapore farm in the evening as the sun sets, I feel incredibly grateful for the work my twin brothers and the community here are doing.

It heals the heart and the soul. But this is not to gloss over the realities of farming right now. To say it is challenging would be an understatement.

It's hardly surprising because the current global food system is failing. It is responsible for around 30% of global carbon emissions and the latest Living Planet from WWF report reveals that food production is driving biodiversity loss, putting 86% of species at risk of extinction.

Growing food in a different way, championing a different food system, has become more than a mission in our lives.

The Quintosapore team

We’re part of a network across the planet, of those who strive to put nature first and heal damage that has been done. No matter how fractured the narrative becomes, we turn our produce into products that carry our stories, our vision, our flavours and our aspirations for a more environmentally and socially just world.

During this upcoming Holiday Season, you’ll be awash with gift guides promising luxury as a form of escapism. But for us, true luxury comes in the form of products made with integrity and of the stories they carry with them. So if you want to gift ‘nature’ to your family, friends or colleagues (or indeed yourself!) this Holiday Season issue of The Quintosaporean features our two special gift box collections. We hope you love them as much as we do.

Like you, we’re not only ‘foodies’ (who love flavours and cooking) we are ‘farmies’ who love the stories of trial and error (and sometimes successes!) and are deeply invested in nurturing our environment. In fact that is why we do this!

In this issue we share more of those stories as The Twin Farmers tell us about the recent wine and olive oil harvests that encapsulate our approach and philosophies (we’ve got your holiday reading and your pantry sorted).We want our stories to be your stories too.I like to call our products Hope in a Jar (well, at least the ones that come in jars!).

When you buy Quintosapore you aren’t buying luxury escapism, but a chance to look the climate and nature crisis in the eye and to back the products and people that are truly taking action.Sending you deep gratitude for the support you have shown us during 2024 and see you on the other side for more.

Livia & the Quintosapore family….

THE TWIN FARMERS

The Twin Farmers Alessandro and Nicola Giuggioli founded Quintosapore five years ago. Their primary focus is understanding and listening to the soil and the life it supports, from seed to harvest. They adopt a multidisciplinary approach combining regenerative, biodynamic, and organic principles with innovative techniques such as agroforestry, effective microorganisms, biochar and quantum physics.

They call this Biomimic Farming.

In this issue we bring you news of a bumper harvest and a bumper read from the Twin Farmers as Ale tells the tale of finding a long lost grape variety on the farm and how they came to make a delicious wine from it.

 But first it’s over to Twin Farmer Nic to tell all about our equally delicious olive oil.

Since the last issue, here at Quintosapore we have experienced the best harvest to date for two of our signature crops - olives and the Malmaturo grape, from which we make our wine. 

Of course there is something magical about gathering in a big harvest. Seeing an abundant, healthy crop transformed into products that will proudly wear the Quintosapore label is definitely a vibe!

And it gives us a chance to celebrate the healthy ecosystem we are trying to create. Because we hope that all our hard work and the way we observe our plants so closely (sometimes as obsessively as newborns) in order to pick up on signals and solutions from nature herself, has maximised our chances of raising a healthy crop.

The Quintosapore team during the olive harvest

But we have to acknowledge that luck plays a part. As the climate crisis accelerates, growing conditions become ever more unpredictable and food growers are on the frontline. Our minds turn to recent scenes of climate disaster in Italy and nearby Spain, where deadly floods have claimed lives and harvests.

I promise you we do not take our good luck, or indeed the crop, for granted. For a month now we’ve followed the relentless rhythm that the olive harvests dictate. Every day our team gathers 1800 – 2200 kilos from the trees. Twice a day we deliver them to the local mill where the standards match our own.

At 6am every morning Quintosapore olives are the first to be pressed. We are passionate about this. Many olive oils wear the phrase ‘cold pressed’. But ours truly live up to this – our olives are pressed before the machinery gets a chance to warm up.

You might ask yourself why we are so particular? From the time we pick (early in the Season as the olives are just beginning to turn from green to black) to insisting that our olives are first to go through the mill, everything is calculated to ensure our olive oil contains the highest level of polyphenols. These are some of the most powerful antioxidants nature provides us with. Just as we were about to hit ‘send’ on this issue of our newsletter, we received our tests back from the lab. Now we can exclusively reveal that tests show our olive oil has an extraordinary 618 mg per kilo of polyphenols. By comparison most top quality extra virgin olive oils have an average of 200 mg (of polyphenols) per kilo. We are over three times richer in polyphenols. It makes you wonder if Quintosapore extra virigin olive oil should be sold as a medicine.

Harvesting early, as we do, makes for harder work. This is because we must pick by hand as the olives do not fall from the tree easily by themselves, as later in the season. However the entire Giuggioli family comes to help and working together to bring in our precious harvest is also a restorative and life affirming part of what we do. It feels instinctive. I think it is that energy and commitment that I’ll remember for a long time to come, along with the taste of this year’s organic olive oil which is our best yet.A successful harvest means we have more on sale, and more of you will get to experience it. We sell our organic extra virgin cold pressed oil as a standalone product, but we use the same oil in all of our products too. I love the fact that many of you will get to try it for the first time, perhaps over Christmas. I always say our olive oil is delicious enough to drink, so I’m happy to raise a glass (of Quintosapore cold pressed) and wish you a happy holiday.

‘Sometimes you don’t choose the vineyard, but the vineyard chooses you’.

I was standing in field of our Orto, when my mobile rang. It was a number I did not recognise.

‘Hello’ I said.

‘Alessandro Giuggioli?’ enquired a male voice.

‘Yes. It’s me’.

‘You lucky ***%!***'  said the distinguished professor of viniculture and expert in ancient vineyards from Perugia University.

This was the moment we discovered Quintosapore was home to the Malmaturo grape, an ancient Etruscans grape missing from the official wine register since the 17th century.

Three years before my brother Nic and I had stumbled across the remnants of a vineyard on a new pocket of land we’d acquired in the valley where we farm. It was a chaotic jumble of twisting vines and a few grapes of different colours. It had little in common with the pristine regimented rows you see in most wineries.

To us Twin Farmers, of course it was full of promise and potential and our imaginations quickly went into overdrive. We consulted with a famous enologist who didn’t share our enthusiasm. ‘Rip it up!’ he decreed. He advised replanting with Sangiovese (aka ‘blood of Jupiter). Fast growing and hardy, this is the grape that now swamps an estimated 65,000 hectares in Italy as the trend for French style winemaking continues to accelerate.

We decided not to follow his advice and parted ways. While it is now standard practice to renew vine plants after 50 years (sometimes sooner), we tend to think about the deep roots and the natural minerals (leading to extra and depth of flavour) that such an ancient plant has established. Isn’t that something to be cherished rather than overlooked? Instead of binning our mystery vines, we decided to clean it. We cleaned each plant by hand, we removed the old bark and massaged it. Our friends joked it was the equivalent to a spa treatment for each plant. It took weeks.

Slowly we began to breathe life into the vines. We called Roberto Chioggia, who is still our enologist today, who suggested the plants were 80-90 years old. Moreover, he began to wonder what on earth they were given as they didn’t seem to resemble the dominant varieties. We all wondered if we had something special, perhaps a lost variety?

 It was time to put in a call to Professor Paliotti , the distinguished professor of viniculture and expert in ancient vineyards from Perugia University. Professor Paliotti has subsequently become a friend and a mentor. But back then - when after a month of trying, I finally reached him by phone - he was foreboding, as unreachable as the Pope. ‘Professor Paliotti, we have an old vineyard and a grape that we don’t think exists any more!’. He sounded weary and a touch sceptical, ‘Hmm OK. You know every day someone calls me thinking they have long-lost grapes.’ He agreed I could send him a box of grapes at the next harvest.

A year later, I filled a box with the grapes and I gave them to Fabrizio who drives our Quintosapore orders. ‘Fabrizio, please drop these grapes at the University of Perugia for the attention of Professor Paliotti’. It takes one hour to get to Perugia. After one hour and five minutes my phone started ringing.

‘You lucky ***%!*** ’ said the distinguished professor of viniculture and expert in ancient vineyards from Perugia University.

So that is the story of how we came to turn our grapes into the Malmaturo wine. It shows that you don’t always choose a vineyard, sometimes it chooses you. Today we are the only growers to be producing Malmaturo wine.

Today we are the only growers to be producing Malmaturo wine.
Originally known as the Corbacchione grape, this Etruscan grape was used by the Ancient Romans to make the world’s first Rose’ sparkling wine.

In the near future, we hope to produce a sparkling version honouring the grapes’ Etruscan heritage. But for now, you can enjoy Malmaturo as a red and a white. We also have a supreme quality version that has been aged in an oak barrel. We are not allowed to call it a ‘Riserva’ until the grape has been approved, so we cheekily call it ‘Avresir’. (If you take a selfie you’ll quickly get why!).

When other supply chains are so divorced from history, from product, from place, we’re really proud of our deep stories and connections and we think this shines through in the quality of our products. I would love to think of you raising a glass to love and passion this Holiday Season. I certainly will.

Twin Farmer, Ale

We’re all looking to give gifts that make a difference and create a positive impact these days. Meanwhile the Quintosapore brand, despite being young, has already made waves as a trailblazer in the food and farming worlds. So we thought, why not turn some of our fine produce into gifts that really mean something?

Our very special limited edition Holiday Boxes represent our practice and philosophies. The collections combine some of our greatest hits in the form of a generous selection of our limited edition from Soil-to-Jar products.

Made in our Farm Kitchen Lab, using only our organically certified and hand harvested seasonal fresh vegetables and nothing else – our gift boxes are packed full of flavour and goodness.

We are passionate about growing and creating food products that delight. From our cold press extra virgin olive oil to our famous ‘statuesque’ Aglione garlic, we grow with care and love. From our Heritage Aglione Tomato Sauce (recently featured in The Times) to our Zucchine sott’Olio (recipient of a Great Taste Awards 2024) our products are all about the produce and deep flavours. In fact we are as obsessive about delivering flavour and quality as we are about nurturing our soils. The majority of our crops are heritage and rare.Order now and we’ll deliver our delectable ‘nature-in-a-jar’ products in time for the Holiday Season!

Heritage Tomato Collection

INCLUDED:

Sugo all'Aglione
Heritage Aglione Tomato Sauce

Passata di Pomodoro Rosso
Red Tomato Passata

Passata di Pomodoro Verde
Green Tomato Passata

Passata di Pomodoro Arancione
Orange Tomato Passata

Passata di Pomodoro Bianco
White Tomato Passata

Zucchine Sott’Olio
Zucchini in Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Sale Piccante Affumicato
Smoked Chilli Sea Salt Flakes

Gourmet Pantry Collection

INCLUDED:

Olio Extravergine di Oliva Italiano Biologico
Italian Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1l

Passata di Pomodoro Rosso
Red Tomato Passata

Passata di Pomodoro Verde
Green Tomato Passata

Passata di Pomodoro Arancione
Orange Tomato Passata

Zucchine Sott’Olio
Zucchini in Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Caviale di Melanzane Affumicate
Smoked Aubergine Caviar

Alioli all’aglione
Aglione Garlic Aioli

This is the most wonderful time of year – White Truffle Season - especially for our specialist truffle dogs, Bella and Moka.

Please do get in touch with us if you are interested in purchasing our white truffles (we ship worldwide). Alternatively, if you are going to be in Umbria, please do come to the farm and join a truffle hunt with us (and Bella and Moka).