The whole animal bioindicator
Bees play a key role in maintaining the biological balance of our ecosystem, and their extinction would be catastrophic.
It can be considered the "integral" animal bioindicator par excellence as it is capable of exploring the three environmental dimensions: air, water and soil.
Unfortunately, for years there has been talk of a drastic reduction in this extraordinary "vector of life" and "integral environmental sensor" due to the degradation of the overall quality of our ecosystems.
At Cantina Orsogna, we have been practicing organic farming principles for over 25 years.
Today, organic farmland represents approximately 80% of the cultivated area, so we feel confident that BEES ARE SAFE, far from pesticides and herbicides.
Vola Volè "Gioielli della Regina" is a line of Cantina Orsogna wines dedicated to bees and specifically to the queen.
The queen bee reigns over the hive, harmoniously adapting to the needs, laws, and intentions of her colony, regulating its life and ensuring its survival.
It develops from an egg fertilized by worker bees and fed until the end (15 days) on royal jelly.
Virgin queens, in their royal cells, emit a sound called the queen's song, a war cry for the opposing queen and an invitation to the drones to fly (nuptial flight).
The queen leaves the hive only once in her life with a retinue of workers who protect her on all sides.
On this occasion, it flies as high as possible (up to 30 metres) where only the strongest drones will be able to reach it.
Swarming can be interpreted as a process of ending the old colony and preparing for the birth of a new one.
Reserves dedicated to the queen bee
Each young queen obtains sperm from many males. This will be useful to her throughout her life: as she lays eggs, she decides whether to fertilize them to produce worker bees, or not to fertilize them so that they produce males (drones).
A queen can produce up to 250,000 eggs a year and perhaps more than a million in her lifetime.
During peak production, it can lay up to 1500 eggs per day.
When the queen is no longer effective in fertilization, the workers prepare to replace her by starting to raise a new one from fertilized eggs or larvae no more than three days old.
The marking of the queen
The queen bee's abdomen is visibly longer than that of the surrounding worker bees, and despite this, it can be difficult for even an experienced beekeeper to locate her in a colony of 60-80,000 bees.
To make it easier to find the queen bee in a hive, beekeepers have adopted a marking system that consists of imprinting a drop of indelible paint on her thorax.
The periodic series of 5 colors (blue, white, yellow, red and green) has international value and allows beekeepers to know the age of the queen bees.
Production area and cultivation techniques
The Vola Volè vineyards are located in the municipalities of Orsogna (450 m above sea level), Filetto, Guardiagrele, and Arielli, on the edge of the Majella National Park, just 15 km from the sea. The climate is therefore characterized by sharp temperature variations between day and night, which contributes to the overall quality of the grapes: increased sugar content, reduced acidity, improved phenolic composition, and enhanced aromatic characteristics.
At the Orsogna winery, we manage our vineyards according to organic agronomic standards, striving to combine continuous improvement in grape quality with environmental protection, soil fertility, and worker health.
Walking through our vineyards, you're likely to encounter the wildlife that populates the Majella: roe deer, badgers, wild boars, foxes, and occasional wolf sightings.
The soils where vines are grown are normally medium textured with a fair amount of gravel, but vineyards grown on calcareous and clayey soils are very common.
The vines are grown under a pergola and all stages of the process, from pruning to harvesting, are carried out manually.
Vinification and Aging
The grapes used to produce the "Gioielli della Regina" wines are selected from vineyards suited to the production of high-quality red grapes.
From these we obtain a wine very rich in color, extract and aromas, the maceration can last up to 15-20 days.
Fermentation is carried out following the organic wine specifications.
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Riserva wine is aged for at least 2 years, of which at least 9 months in wooden containers.
The refinement takes place both in barriques and in large barrels for approximately 1 year, followed by a subsequent refinement in the bottle.
