A group of inmates on a remote prison island off the coast of Italy have started producing their own wine, making them perhaps the country’s most unlikely vintners.
The prisoners are incarcerated on the tiny island of Gorgona, the farthest flung speck of the Tuscan archipelago. The island has been a penal colony since 1869.
The inmates planted a vineyard recently and have now produced 2,700 bottles of white wine, a blend of Vermentino and Ansonica grapes.
They will not be allowed to sample it themselves – instead it will go on sale to restaurants and wine bars around Italy, starting next week.
The 50 prisoners on the island, which is covered in Mediterranean scrub, pine trees and holm oak forest, have been given wine-producing tips by the Frescobaldis, one of Italy’s oldest and most respected winemaking families.
See on telegraph.co.uk
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