Selva Lacandona: a wine of redemption

The wine of Selva Lacandona is produced by young people settling their accounts with the law outside the prison system together with other disadvantaged youths who are at risk. They are supervised and assisted for free by volunteers and local farmers. The estate has a total of 14 hectares of land cultivated with grape vines, peach trees and a natural forest and has come to symbolize the possibility of social redemption.

The estate is situated in a place of natural beauty on the ancient bay of Puteoli – Pozzuoli today – in the area of Martino di Fuschi di Chiaiano. The land was seized from the Camorra organized crime syndicate in 1997 and definitively confiscated four years later. In 2012, it was awarded to the Associazione (R)esistenza Anticamorra which manages an agricultural fund named after the late Amato Lamberti, a journalist, politician and scholar opposed to organized crime.

The name Selva Lacandona is a homage to the forest in the state of Chiapas, inhabited by the Maya Lacandon people, where the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) for years fought in favor of the native population against the violet repression of the Mexican army.

Today, Selva Lacandona is a safe haven, a place not only of redemption and resistance against organized crime but also those political institutions that sought to transform the area into a refuse dump

With its production of jams, honey and wines (and in the future craft beer), Selva Lacandona is living proof of how courage and commitment can make social redemption possible. Profits from all the activities are used to help the socially disadvantaged and unfortunate re-enter the work force.

Selva Lacandona wine is made from Falanghina grapes grown in 2.5-hectare ‘urban vineyard’, one of the few in the world, thanks to the contribution the Cantine Astroni winery, which offers logistical support, and the generous consultancy of winemaker Gerardo Veranzzano. With its aroma and flavor, the wine is an expression of an extraordinarily beautiful land.

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