Introducing Fuori Marmo & Olivier Paul Morandini

10 July 2024

Kisawa is delighted to welcome Tuscan winemaker, Olivier Paul Morandini from Fuori Mondo vineyards for a unique wine & culinary experience, launching the world’s first ‘white marble’ aged wine across Africa.

On July 24, the festivities begin with an intimate cooking class set in our beautiful permaculture garden, utilising fresh local plants and traditional dishes matched to the grape varieties from the Tuscan coastline. Hosted by Olivier and the Kisawa culinary team, guests will combine wine tasting with cooking, and a beginners guide to some of the botanicals grown on the island and used in our restaurants.

The main event: The Fuori Marmo wine dinner at The Main Terrace on July 25. Olivier will carefully take guests on the journey that led to the Seravezza ‘white marble’ aged wine – serving a selection of Cabernet Sauvignons throughout the evening.

Ahead of the event, we spoke to Olivier to ask him more about his personal background, his wines, and why he decided to work with such a groundbreaking material in the very long, history of wine making.

Please tell us a little bit more about your background, and what led you to Fuori Mondo.

I have actively worked as a citizen to provide Europe with a single emergency call and standardised access to emergency services across the Union. It took twelve years to get the 112 project off the ground.

Twelve years of intense political lobbying within the European Parliament to make it a European priority.

But my grandfather’s Italian origins fuelled a deep-seated desire in me to be out in nature, to use my hands and to let my rural sensibility express itself in order to produce something.

It was in 2009 that my life changed in the space of a few minutes. During a visit to a tiny estate on the Tuscan coast that I had discovered in 2003 and to which I returned every year to buy a few boxes of wine, the owners offered me the chance to take over the estate, which they could no longer manage given their age.

Without the financial means, without the knowledge of this profession, the answer to this proposal came without me even being able to think about it! “Yes, I’ll buy, just give me a year!

And I’m never going to reproduce the wine they produced. They made a blend straight after fermentation, whereas I’m going to let each grape variety age separately. And my real love at first sight for the wine came with that first vintage and the sangiovese. From there, I went on to explore each of the grape varieties that made up the Tuscan complantation for the following vintage. And I’ll isolate those with which I saw the possibility of travelling and finding their best expression. They now make up the range of single-varietal wines that I make, always seeking freshness.

Every day that passes here begins with the gratitude of living in this setting of hills facing the Tuscan archipelago, where Nature is fully preserved and where we have taken on the role of Guardian of this place. We hope, of course, to inspire others to work with the same respect as we do ourselves.

What led you from more traditional vineyard processes, to fermenting wine in white Seravezza marble?

The idea was born in 2019 during a dinner with two of my friends in Italy: Paolo Carli of Henraux marble quarries and multi-starred French chef, Yannick Alléno.

When commenting on the vertical style of the wines that I like, Yannick asked: ‘Why haven’t you ever tried to age the wine in marble?’ Paolo Carli of Henreaux did not object to the idea, admitting that technically it seemed possible.

What originated as a joke ended up resonating with the three of us; the never-before-attempted notion of ageing a wine in white marble from Carrara. The idea turned into a project which then turned into a search for a 34.8-ton block of marble.

Five months passed between the selection of a 34.8 tonne block of statuary white marble from the Monte Altissimo cava Michelangelo and its delivery to the Fuori Mondo winery in Campiglia Marittima, on the Tuscan coast. It’s a titanic task, made possible today thanks to the cutting-edge tools used by the Cave Henraux.

At the same time, I began a long process of analysis to understand the interaction between the marble and the wine I was going to mature in the jars for the first time. After six months, the vital parameters for the wine remained stable, so we decided to send the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon from a very fine clay-limestone terroir. After 14 weeks together, I felt that the imprint of the marble on the wine was noticeable and harmonious, and decided to bottle it. It took just a few weeks for the two materials to blend together, revealing the role of the marble unequivocally: it gives the wine a telluric energy (Yannick’s first word when he tasted the wine) that extends its caudalie over a surprisingly fresh frame. The marble enhances the wine’s structure without adding any foreign aromas.

What are you most looking forward to about visiting Mozambique?

Meeting Mathieu Hellec (Kisawa’s General Manager) at a tasting where I was presenting the wines of Fuori Mondo in the Seychelles in 2023 had a special energy about it, and we were fully connected. The wine aroused emotions and Mathieu was fully receptive. These are rare moments and I’m obviously very touched when someone is moved by Fuori Mondo wines. It’s a magnificent gift.

The idea of presenting Fuori Mondo wines at Kisawa was anything but a coincidence. Because although we’re talking about two different worlds and two different professions, our approach is very similar.

Keeping things simple and authentic is undoubtedly the most complicated path to take. Loyalty to a place without wanting to change it, to disguise it and to pick out what it has to offer in order to pass on its essence while protecting it. And over time, making more and more people aware of the importance of preserving our natural environment.

For more information on the Fuori Mondo Wine Experience at Kisawa, please talk to our team on email: reservations@kisawasanctuary.com

Click to learn more about Fuori Mondo & Fuori Marmo.