On the Gorgona Island located off the Tuscany coast in Italy the prisoners work in the vineyard to produce among 2700 and 3000 bottles per year. This wine is then being sold at about fifty euros per bottle to several well-known restaurants praising the incredible taste of it. Moreover, you can find it in one of the best restaurants in Florence, rated three stars by the Michelin Guide.

This prison on the Island was founded in 1969 and has been functioning in almost complete isolation from the continent since. It counts forty prisoners who are not wine growers but real bandits and outriders convicted of murder.

The Gorgona Island prisoners are paid by the Marquesi Francesco de Frescobaldi, a 700-year-old wine-grower dynasty, participating in the “reintegration by agriculture” program.

Planted in 1999 on the rich mineral soils of the smallest Tuscany Archipelago island, 37 kilometers off the Livorno port, the vineyard occupies 2,5 acres (1 hectare) facing east.

Abandoned for some time, the vineyard was brought back to life in 2009 by a sicilian prisoner – wine grower, who left his place after serving his sentence to other prisoners sharing the same passion for the vineyards.

A reintegration program where the vineyard gives as much as it receives,

In Vino Veritas …

(photo: copyright Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters)

L’article From Penal Colony to Paradise est apparu en premier sur Blog World Grands Crus.

A 1 300 acres, piece of land, is home to 1000 geese feeding on acorns, lupin, olives, grass as well as figs. One month before they are sacrificed, organic corn is distributed in great quantities in the evenings, this added to their normal feed and geese being simply greedy, creates a naturally fully fattened liver!

They are preserved from contact with man and protected from predators. In a natural protected area, the geese get ready to migrate, but the majority chooses to remain. This creates a group, which in time persuades new arrivals as well as the young ones that have grown up, from migrating.
A small part of the geese will produce 400 kg of foie gras per year. This is the price to pay for preserving the flock for years to come, and have the unique privilege of offering a natural, ethical and organic foie gras.
This little production, is unfortunately insufficient for the demand of foie gras amateurs who refuse, and rightly so, force feeding.

This foie gras is produced in Spain, La Patería de Sousa which has received the prize for the Outstanding foie gras of the year, at the international food and agricultural fair in Paris.

You can find it directly on-line at World Grands Crus.  The specialized site, for unique delicatessen and Grand Crus.

L’article A natural organic foie gras, without force feeding, unique in the world and much to scarce! est apparu en premier sur Blog World Grands Crus.