Day 12 May at 11.00 the awarding ceremony was held Honoris Causa Doctorate in Agricultural, Food and Forestry Sciences al dott. Nicodemus Librandi in the Aula Quistelli of our University. After the inaugural address and greetings of the Rector, Prof. Giuseppe Zimbalatti, the Laudatio was enunciated by Prof. Francesco Sunseri, followed by the interventions of Profs. Giovanni Enrico Agosteo, Leonardo Schena and the President of the Student Council, Girolamo De Giglio.
The awarding of the Honoris Causa Doctorate to Dr. Nicodemo Librandi was promoted by Agricultural Department of the Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, for his tireless research and innovation activity in the viticulture sector. Dr. Librandi has carried out an intense activity in the recovery of the viticultural biodiversity of which Calabria is extremely rich due to its millenary viticultural history. This activity has led to the establishment of a collection of regional vines of extreme interest for the present and the future of Calabrian viticulture, evaluating their aptitudes and peculiarities. In other areas of viticulture, Nicodemo Librandi, together with his late brother Tonino, has also carried out a commendable research and innovation activity in the sector of mechanization of the main practices in the vineyard, as well as in the most advanced oenological technologies for the maximum valorisation of the wine obtained from native varieties.
Librandi today represents a regional and national point of reference for a magnificent interaction between the innovative activities in the vineyard and in the cellar, which is expressed in wines of the highest quality, which contributes to making regional viticulture better known throughout the world.
“Producing knowledge, innovating, reducing cultural and socio-economic margins, training young people and citizens, introducing them to the world of work and research, is our main task. With today’s event, therefore, we reaffirm our willingness to accompany the best examples and to participate in the growth processes of the territory”. with these words Giuseppe Zimbalatti, Rector of the Mediterranean University, highlighted the spirit of the initiative.
Nicodemo Librandi, with emotion, he declared “There are no words to express my sensations, it is a great satisfaction because I think I have been recognized for having been useful to my family, to my company but also to Calabria. I put a lot of passion, a lot of effort into my work, driven by the need to gradually deepen my knowledge of our viticulture, to understand and find a way to contribute to bringing Calabrian wine back to the prominent place it deserves. In the end I can feel fully satisfied, because I think I have triggered a strong ferment around the world of Calabrian wine and contributed significantly to its rebirth.”
The profile
DOTT. NICODEMO LIBRANDI – Born in Cirò (KR) on 08/03/1945, after the scientific high school diploma obtained at the Salesian Institute of Taranto, he obtained a degree in mathematics at the La Sapienza University of Rome. Always involved in the family’s wine business, since 1971, simultaneously with his part-time involvement in the cellar and in the vineyard, he has dedicated himself to teaching, which he continues until 1988. In 1989 he decides to abandon his teaching career to devote himself to plant stable and continuous management of the family business.
With its action and with a direct commitment dedicated to all phases of management, from production to marketing in Italy and abroad, the Librandi company has become one of the protagonists of the vigorous relaunch of the reality and image of southern viticulture.
We are certainly not far from reality in affirming that the human story of Nicodemo Librandi, born in 1945, intertwines, up to the point of confusion, with the history of the Cirò Marina winery. The remarkable growth in turnover, year after year, the conquest of ever new markets, the increasingly firm affirmation of the company brand, in Italy and abroad, prestigious awards from the major opinion leaders and the most qualified wine magazines and guides international markets, are the best proof of the validity of the choices made and of a constant commitment to uncompromising quality.
Proceeding backwards, from the ten hectares on which the company could count when it joined the company in 1971, today we have reached the considerable share of 359 hectares of property, of which 232 are vineyards, 100 are olive groves and the remainder is woodland. and arable land.
Production, after reaching 200,000 bottles in 1973, 400,000 bottles in 1978, 700,000 pieces in 1981 and 1,650,000 in 1997, reached 2,100,000 bottles in 2006, to reach over 2,500,000 in 2015 pieces, with a distribution aimed essentially at restaurants, wine bars and specialized venues.
Nicodemo Librandi has always taken care to put the development of the family business in harmony with a development and a strong growth of image and prestige of the entire Calabrian viticulture, lucidly seen as an authentic treasure whose ancient, noble traditions could be revived , and revitalized, in the name of a modern viticulture, able to interpret the taste of today’s most demanding and aware consumer.
The constant growth of sales volumes demonstrates how Nicodemo Librandi was right and was able to overcome the not indifferent obstacle represented by having to propose on markets, initially prudent and not well disposed towards the wines of the South and Calabrian in particular, blocked by a deficit of knowledge and in need of being reassured by a perceptible and constant quality, the wines that they were progressively fine-tuning, perfecting and tailoring to the most demanding consumer.
Gravello 1989 was the first Calabrian wine in history to receive the prestigious Three Glasses from Gambero Rosso and it was only the first in a long series of awards obtained from the most important national and foreign opinion leaders which have greatly increased not only the image of company products, but that of Calabrian enology in general. It is precisely in the sign of this precise desire to include the wines of Calabria in the geography of the best Italian wine areas, to fully exploit their enormous potential, to affirm their qualitative vocation, that all the subsequent phases of the growth of the Librandi winery can be read . At every stage, from the expansion of the production cellar to the expansion of the farm, Nicodemo Librandi has been able to look far with foresight, be ahead of the times, and implement important and far-reaching projects, giving life to an important production reality which has contributed to spreading a dynamic and positive image of Calabria and its most modern entrepreneurial capacity throughout the world.
Nicodemo Librandi’s constant objective has always been that of a diffusion and therefore a high-profile marketing of Calabrian wines. This objective has been pursued across the board, starting from the enhancement of the enormous potential, only partially exploited in the past, of the Calabrian ampelographic heritage. This also through the recovery of native varieties given back to new life above all through the application of the results of constant research and experimentation, information and dissemination work, carried out with the help of some of the most important experts in the national and international. All this by combining modern production with the preservation of the best aspects of tradition and reasoned innovation in the vineyard, in the cellar and in corporate marketing. This recovery work has allowed Nicodemo Librandi prestigious entrances, as an aggregate member, in the Accademia dei Georgofili (2002) and in the Accademia della Vite e del Vino (2005). In 2008 however, always on the basis of the long work on the native Calabrian vines, the Veronelli Lifetime Achievement Award as the best winemaker in Italy for that year arrives. And again, in 2013 he was awarded by Gambero Rosso in the prestigious magazine Vini d’Italia winemaker of the year.
The work of recovering the autochthonous varieties and disseminating the results obtained and the enormous potential of viticulture in Calabria, however, was neither easy nor fast. Nicodemo has succeeded in this and continues to work on this line of research thanks above all to the group of excellent researchers that he has managed to involve in this project. In fact, an integral part of this pool of researchers is prof. Donato Lanati of the University of Turin with his Enosis Meraviglia laboratory which takes care of the oenological aspects; Dr. Anna Schneider and Dr. Franco Mannini of the CNR of Turin who take care of the ampelographic and virological aspects, in addition to clonal selection; the professor. Mario Fregoni of the Catholic University of Piacenza who takes care of coordination and agronomic aspects together with dr. Andrea Paoletti; Dr. Stella Grando of the IASMA of San Michele all’Adige who deals with the genetic aspects. It is essentially the elite of national viticultural and enological research.
This group, Nicodemo Librandi in the first place, together with the company’s technical staff, gave birth in 2007 to the publication “Il Gaglioppo and its brothers”, published by Tecniche Nuove, on the native Calabrian vines which is now taken as an example of the authoritative research on these subjects. This first publication was then followed in 2012 by a second: “Vitigni di Calabria, selection and oenological potential”, published by Rubbettino, which presents the second phase of the research. These two publications were awarded within the Ambassadors of Wine Cities International Literary Award. And again, the constant activity of Nicodemo Librandi in the field of research and information has seen him participate in numerous projects whose results have been disseminated through the following publications which have seen him co-author together with scientific personalities of the sector: – “Vitigni di Calabria – selection and oenological potential”, published by Creative Territory in 2012; – “The Vignaioli del Cirò – voices and faces of a story”, published by Rubbettino in 2015; – “Study for the identification of the most suitable rootstocks for the cultivation of Gaglioppo”, published by Rubbettino in 2015; – “Interventions for the recovery and characterization of the native Calabrian cultivars Castiglione and Toccarino”, published by Rubbettino in 2015; – “A journey inside the genome of Gaglioppo and Magliocco”, published by Rubbettino in 2015.