On the 31st July the Copertino wine cooperative, called “Cupertinum”,
welcomed four American students: Tori Lewis, Alex Kasai, Derick Webb, Shawn
McIlvenna, who had expressed, along with the Program Director of the US DAVIS
Fresno State, the desire to know the company and its wine. This activity
is part of the program of Global Wine Industry Internship Program developed by
YLTOUR in partnership with the American University of California. They were
hosted by the president of the wine cooperative, Mr. Francesco Trono, and the
deputy mayor of the municipality, Ms. Laura Alemanno. The latter was charged with
representing the municipality desire to establish new relationships with other
countries, in particular the USA.
At the
meeting there was also the engineer Mirko Manca, the wine expert Mr Giuseppe
Pizzolante Leuzzi and Mr and Mrs Hunter, the only American family residing in
Copertino, who had the task of being interpreters and making the guests feel at
ease. The deputy
mayor made a speech to welcome the guests on behalf of the mayor, Sandrina
Schito, and the whole town administration. The wine cooperative “Cupertinum” is
considered a crucial point of reference in the field of enology and in that
day, focused on the topic of wine, it has also become an important backdrop for
exchanges of cultures, traditions and territorial peculiarities. The wine
expert told the agriculture students that the associated vine growers produce
high quality wines thanks to their deep knowledge of the vineyards, the
organoleptic features of their grapes and the specific cultivation needs. Mr. Francesco
Trono wanted in particular to have the students know the history of the wine
cooperative, which was born in 1935 thanks to the will of 36 vine growers
associated in a cooperative; their purpose was to give value to their
cooperative and look after the vinification of their grapes and the trade of
their wines. Today there are 300 proud partners who give their own crops. The
cultivated fields are about 350 hectars. Mr. Francesco
Trono let the students see some
historical documents, some pictures and some pages of old newspapers concerning
the history of the wine cooperative. At the end of the didactic journey they
could taste the wines deriving from the cultivation of different kinds of
grapes: Negroamaro, black Malvasia, Primitivo and white Malvasia of Lecce. The
council member Mauro Valentino gave the final greetings to the group. In the
past months he had already organized important economical and cultural
exchanges with the city of Cupertino in California, which is twinned with our
town in the name of our great Saint.
CUPERTINUM, cantina sociale
cooperativa di Copertino / Via Martiri del Risorgimento 6 – 73043 I –
Copertino (Lecce)
tel. (+39) 0832 947031; fax (+39) 0832 947031;
email: cantinacopertino@libero.it
sito web - http://www.cupertinum.it/
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University of California, Davis
sito web: http://www.ucdavis.edu
California State University, Fresno
sito
web: http://www.fresnostate.edu/
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Comune di Copertino - Provincia
di Lecce
73043
COPERTINO (Lecce) - Via Malta, 10
Tel.
(+39) 0832 93 83 11 (centralino) - Fax. (+39) 0832 93 35 22
sito web: www.copertino.it
Email: info@comune.copertino.le.it
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A document written by:
Romina Leo, email: rominaleo@libero.it
Mirko
Manca, email: manca.mirko@gmail.com
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