Tuscan wine house Frescobaldi has presented the 2025 vintage of Gorgona, a white wine grown and made by inmates on an Italian prison island, and has extended its agreement with the prison.
Avisen Danmark reports from Gorgona, an island roughly 35 kilometers off the Tuscan coast, reached by ferry from Livorno in about an hour and a half. The island has housed a prison since 1869, and visitors need advance permission from the Italian prison service.
Since 2011, Frescobaldi has worked with the prison to train inmates in viticulture and cellar work. The grapes come from just under 2.5 hectares of terraced vineyards, planted in 1999, 2015 and 2017. The white wine, called simply Gorgona, was first made from the 2012 harvest, from Vermentino and Ansonica.
A red wine, Gorgona Rosso, was added later, made from Sangiovese and Vermentino Nero. Total output is about 9,000 bottles of white and 1,000 bottles of red per year. That is a micro-production next to the roughly seven million bottles Frescobaldi sells annually.
The inmates are employed by Frescobaldi and paid a wage they can save until release. All are serving the final part of their sentences, and none has tasted the wines, since alcohol is prohibited inside. Prison director Maria Grazia Giampiccolo told Avisen Danmark that 81 former inmates have found work after serving their sentences.
According to Lamberto Frescobaldi, who heads the family firm, the reoffending rate among those who served on the island is close to zero. He presented the 2025 vintage on a terrace above the harbor to invited wine merchants, restaurateurs and writers.
What other outlets report
PR Newswire dates the official presentation of Gorgona 2025 to June 12, 2026, with the first bottle uncorked on the island. The same release names the Department of Penitentiary Administration in Livorno as the institutional partner. Vinifera Mundi, reporting from the tasting, also puts annual output at about 9,000 bottles of white.
A PR Newswire release from June 2025 states that the collaboration was formalized in June 2014 through a 15-year agreement. The World Economic Forum has reported that participants can accumulate between 10,000 and 40,000 euros through the program, and that some are offered work at Frescobaldi estates after release.
Frescobaldi has extended the contract with the prison to 2038, according to Avisen Danmark. The Drinks Business reported in June 2025 that the agreement runs until 2050. No public document resolves the difference.
Growing conditions on the island differ from the mainland, where heatwaves are frequent. The sea moderates the climate, and altitude in the highest plot cools the grapes, allowing full ripeness with retained acidity. The 2025 Gorgona is listed at 796.05 kroner at the Danish retailer Bottlehero.dk.
