Obituary: GIANNI MASCIARELLI

GIANNI  MASCIARELLI
passed away on July 31 while on a business trip in Germany.  He was 52 years old.  Mr. Masciarelli was the premier winemaker/owner of Masciarelli vineyards in Abruzzo, Italy.
Gianni inherited his passion for vineyards and wine from his grandfather, Giovanni.  In 1978, he produced his first wines at times when wine to him was just a passion.  In 1981, upon his return from a journey to France, he decided to commit to wine making in a business sense and started the production of wines to sell.  In his land, Gianni applied the viticultural concepts he learned in France and for this he was heavily criticized by just about everyone in the wine making business.  This was because as a cultivation technique, grafting of vines and production of wine were in evident contrast with what was suggested by tradition and the wine making concept of those times in Abruzzo and Italy.  Everyone believed that the young man, in his twenties, at those times was wasting his time and money.  Indeed, he was building the foundation for high quality wine making in his region.