Wine Notes | Spring 2020 Wine Club 2 | Roscoli

Grapes: Chardonnay 100%
Region: Franciacorta (Brescia) - Lombardia
Pairings: Marinated and raw fish, fresh cheeses such as: buffalo mozzarella, smoked ricotta or burrata. Chicken salad, pasta with courgettes and shrimps.
Drink By: Ready.
Notes: Organic agriculture, soft pressing of the grape, alcoholic fermentation in steel vats and second fermentation in the bottle with the addition of frozen must according to the SoloUva method, 36 month on the lees in the bottle. No sugar added.
Description: In the splendid countryside of Erbusco, in Franciacorta, the Solo Uva company was born in 2008 from the will of Andrea Rudelli and Arianna Vianelli. Their mission: to produce a sparkling wine using only Chardonnay grapes that could be an authentic expression of the territory. Yes, but how? Starting right from the territory and questioning the practices traditionally and commonly adopted in that territory! Solo Uva is not only the name of the company but it is also the "means" to reach the desired "goal", from a technical point of view the Solo Uva (Only grapes in English) method differs from the Classic Method in two fundamental aspects: The first in harvesting the grapes only at full phenological maturity (the climate allows it unlike in Champagne), the second in freezing a part of the must of the base wine naturally rich in sugars and then using it to start the second fermentation and for any dosage operations, without therefore resort to exogenous sugars. At a phenological maturity, the grape, in addition of being rich in sugar, develops wine's phenolic compounds, in other words, of the elements that give the wine its color, aroma and consistency. Only in this phase the grapes manage to express the characteristics of their variety and above all of their origin. In this way I can trace in the fruit the distinctiveness of those different soils that distinguish Franciacorta. From the deep knowledge and awareness of its territory and from the courage to apply different methodologies and deviate from the dominant models, that the Franciacorta Dosaggio zero Solo Uva was born, a dry wine with a subtle texture, elegantly fresh and tasty, a unique product of its kind, simply genuine.

Grape: Verdicchio 100%
Region: Cupramontana (Ancona) - Marche
Pairings: Fresh goat cheese, grilled prawns, white meat. Stunning with ricotta and spinach filled home-made ravioli.
Drink by: Ready, but it can rests some more years. 
Notes: Limestone and clayey soil with a gentle breeze coming from the Adriatic sea. Vines of 40 years, manually harvest, spontaneous fermentation in oak barriques for 30 days, no filtration, aged 12 months in oak barrel and at least 6 month in the bottle. 1600 bottles produced for this vintage.
Description: Ca’ Liptra is a small organic winery created in 2012 by Giovanni Loberto and 3 other winemakers to create wines strictly connected to the area of San Michele, in the heart of Castelli di Jesi area. The name identifies the portion of the flower which contains the inflorescence until the blooming, when the grape start to develop: this shows a deep connection between vines and soil rich in clay and chalk. Every phase of the winemaking is handmade: from the vines to the cellar there’s only one creed: wine must reflect the real and pure identity of Verdicchio. Kypra was born even before the winery, when Giovanni and his friends were attending a winemaking internship in Jesi. They wanted to create their own version of Verdicchio, so they bought grapes from 3 different vines situated in the Cupramontana area and began to make experiments in order to understand every single feature of this variety. Since 2012, when they built the winery, Kipra represents the soul of the production and embodies their idea of how the perfect Verdicchio should be: it's a blend of 6 wines coming from 6 different vines which ferment for 8 months in concrete tank to give a complete idea of how a San Michele’s pure Verdicchio could be. Producer suggests to drink it between 14 and 16° Celsius and save some wine for the following day, in order to fully appreciate its aromatic evolution.

Grapes: Caprettone (Coda di Volpe) 80%, Falanghina 15%, Greco 5%
Region: Boscotrecase (Napoli) - Campania
Pairings: Fresh cheeses as: buffalo mozzarella. Baked "al cartoccio" fish such as rhombus with potatoes or sea bream with some citruses notes. Great with a vegetable stuffed rolled chicken.
Drink By: Ready.
Notes: Caprettone is spread over three vineyards located at 30, 120 and 200 meters above sea level, while Falanghina and Greco are grown exclusively at 30 meters above sea level. A part of the grapes is assembled, undergoes immediate pressing and fermentation in the absence of marc, while part of the Caprettone is vinified in purity with maceration for 48 hours in the presence of marc and subsequent soft pressing of the same with fermentation, without temperature control. A choice that Andrea Matrone made with the aim of enhancing the characteristics of this local grape variety that is arousing increasing interest, thanks also to its versatility, also in the sparkling version.
Description: Cantine Matrone is located in Boscotrecase, in the heart of the Vesuvius National Park, with vineyards that enjoy a splendid view of the Gulf of Naples. Andrea and his cousin Francesco Matrone have resumed the cultivation of vines in the ancient family lands, which have always been called "Territory of Matroni", after several years. The production consists of only two wines, Lacryma Christi Rosso and Lacryma Christi Bianco, in a territory of just over two hectares, for a total of 10,000 bottles, a completely artisanal production that has always been dedicated to the revaluation of the territory also through the recovery of native varieties locals, such as Caprettone, an indigenous grape variety which, together with a lower percentage of Falanghina and Greek, gives life to white Lacryma Christi Bianco. The wine shines with its own light, the care in the vineyard, the maceration on the skins, the extreme non-invasiveness behaviour in the cellar allows us to savor a wine that is authentic expression of a territory with very high potential; the sip is vibrant, juicy, fruity but never heavy and never banal thanks to the high acidity.

Grapes: Nebbiolo 100%
Region: Treiso (Langhe), Piemonte
Pairings: Aged cheeses, red meat, rich/earthy dishes, truffle risotto, pasta with sausages and mushrooms.
Drink by: Best after 2022 and before 2030.
Notes: The vines are planted on a limestone-clay soil with South-West exposure at 320 meters above sea level. Fermentation and maceration happen in steel tanks at a controlled temperature of 28-30 ° C, then it is aged for 24 months in big oak barrel.
Description: The Piero Busso farm was born in 1953 in Neive, in the heart of the Langhe. It is a small family-run company: Piero, with the help of his wife Lucia and their children, Emanuela and Pierguido, follows all the stages of wine production, from the vineyard to the cellar. The watchword of the Busso family is: Wine with respect for the territory. The company cultivates 10 hectares, all organically, and thanks to a careful selection of the vines, the peculiar characteristics of the soil and the ideal exposure of the vineyards, there are all the conditions for the production of quality wines. The Mondino Barbaresco comes from the 55-year-old Balluri vineyard, compared to the other Barbaresco Cru produced by the company (Gallina, Albesani, San Sunet) is the most easily approachable, always elegant but less structured than the others. A bit young, I would wait a few years before drinking it together with a white truffle tagliolini.

Grape: Sagrantino 100%
Region: Montefalco (Perugia) - Umbria
Pairings: Grilled steak or lamb, pasta with sausages and porcini mushrooms or black truffle, aged cheeses.
Drink by: Ready, but it can rests some more years.
Notes: Biodynamic agriculture, spontaneous fermentations with indigenous yeast, low sulfite, no filtration no clarification, aged 24 months in big oak barrel.
Description: The Calcabrina Agricultural Company is a family-run farm located near Montefalco, active in the field of viticulture and the production of goat cheeses. Diego Calcabrina, born in 1980, is the essence of this small farm together with his father Angelo. The business changed from "farm" to Farm in the early 2000s and since 2005 to organic and biodynamic management. The animals were included in the project precisely to have natural fertilizers with which the Sagrantino vineyards feed. The vineyards are located at 400 meters above sea level just behind Montefalco, with a north-east exposure. It is a total of 2 hectares planted in Sagrantino about 15 years ago. The breeding is spurred cordon, the ground is rich in skeleton mixed with clay and has an important presence of sandstone. A total of four thousand bottles. Natural winemaking, manual harvest, spontaneous fermentations, no sulfur dioxide addition, in short: a genuine wine that is a child of respect for nature and the territory. Perfect during a nice grilled meat, tannin and structure to sell but with an extraordinary freshness, a real discharge of energy.

Grape: Cannonau 100%
Region: Mamoiada (Nuoro) - Sardegna.
Pairings: Pecorino cheese, sheep meat, braised veal, or with sardinian suckling roasted pig.
Drink by: Ready, but it can rests some more years.
Notes: 90 years old vines, very low yield, organic agriculture, spontaneous fermentation, aged 2 years in Oak barrel and 8 month in the bottle. Only 2500 bottles are produced for this vintage.
Description: The VikeVike winery was born from the desire and passion of Simone Sedilesu, a young winemaker born in Mamoiada from a family that has been making wine for generations. Growing up among the rows with his brothers and cousins, supporting his grandfather since he was a child, he then learned the art of making wine from his father. After graduating in oenology and several experiences abroad Simone made the decision to create his own cellar: VikeVike. A well-defined and strongly identifying production philosophy of the territory: the wine is made first of all in the vineyard, with great attention to it, in the cellar it is only necessary to guide it without being invasive. Since the 2016 vintage, a small centenary vineyard has been acquired from which Simone derives this splendid Riserva, a wine that needs a few years to express itself at its best but that is worth waiting for, power and elegance supported by an out of the ordinary freshness, a true expression of the Mamoiada wine territory in your glass.

Grape: Nebbiolo 100%
Region: Treiso (Langhe) - Piemonte
Pairings: Game meat, stew and roasted beef. Pasta with wild boar ragout. Aged cheeses such as Parmigiano Reggiano. Pairs perfectly with a "Castelmagno" cheese and crushed Piedmontese "Tonda Gentile" hazelnuts risotto.
Drink by: Best after 2023 and before 2028.
Notes: The manual harvesting of the grapes usually takes place the first ten days of October. Fermentation and maceration occur in steel tanks at controlled temperatures for about 3/4 weeks, aging is carried out for about 12 months in Slavonian oak barrels and then 8 month in cement tanks.
Description: The Rizzi winery was born in 1974, on the old family farms of the nineteenth century, thanks to Ernesto Dellapiana. Growing up with the passion of the land and vineyards, Ernesto decided in 1973 to abandon the city and set up a paper converting industry, to pursue his greatest passions: wine, the vineyard and the Langhe area. Ernesto decides to give it the name Rizzi, like the farmhouse that dominates the homonymous Cru. Over the years Ernesto has always been committed to a constant expansion and improvement of the cellar, making it, with its 35 hectares, one of the most important and fascinating wineries in the Barbaresco area. In 2004, with the entry into the cellar of Jole and Enrico, Ernesto's sons, the aspects dedicated to marketing and sales, the technical management of the farm and the cellar were also improved. Today Rizzi represents one of the most interesting realities in Piedmont, thanks to its Barbaresco, truly capable of conquering thanks to its power, combined with a surprising balance and elegance. The Barbaresco Nervo, one of the three Barbaresco cru produced by the company, is characterized by greater tension, verticality and freshness than Pajorè and Rizzi.

Grape: Sangiovese Grosso 100%
Region: Montalcino (Siena) - Toscana
Pairings: Grilled meat, stewed wild boar, pasta with beef or pork ragout, roasted lamb with potatoes, Pecorino cheese.
Drink by: Ready or before 2023.
Notes: All farming is done organically (certified). The grapes are fermented in cement tanks without the addition of yeast and left on their skins for nearly three weeks. From here the juice is gravity fed into 25hl Slavonian vats where they gently rest for 3 years. The wines are then racked and blended and then off to bottle for an addition year of aging.
Description: 2013 could have been a tricky year for Montalcino. The spring was cool and wet, and growers had to be vigilant in order to avoid diseases. The summer was uneven, with some cool periods in August and no heat spikes. A good September helped to end the ripening period, and the bunches remained healthy. The vineyard is located at the 'Passo del Lume Spento,' the highest point of the entire Montalcino area, about 600 meters above sea level. The 5 hectares used for the production of this Brunello, facing south-west towards the sea and surrounded by forests, have vines over 40 years old, grown according to the principles of organic farming. At Le Ragnaie no product of chemical synthesis is inserted in the vineyard.

Grape: Nerello Mascalese 80%, Nerello Cappuccio 20%
Region: Randazzo (Catania) - Sicilia
Pairings: Roasted red meat, home made pasta with a meat based ragout, strong aged cheeses.
Drink by: Ready or before 2023.
Notes: Sandy, vulcanic soil, rich in minerals,vineyard at 750 meters above sea level, spontaneous fermentation with indigenous vulcanic yeast, no filtration or clarification, ages for 48 months in steel cask, than 12 months in oak barrel and 12 in the bottle.
Description: Etna wines are nowadays among the most important and elegant wines in Italy. The context is unique and every winery has its pecularity. Valcerasa is an artisan reality carried on by Alice Bonaccorsi and her husband in Contrada Crocemonaci (Catania). 
This stunning winery on the Etna's slopes is loaded with gnarly old vines, while the newer plantings are the offspring of a massal selection from the best old vines on the original Estate.

Grape: Piedirosso 100%
Region: Boscotrecase (Napoli) - Campania
Pairings: Chicken meat, 'Cacciatora' rabbit, beef meatballs with tomatoes sauce, eggplant or courgette parmigiana.
Drink by: Ready or before 2026.
Notes: The vineyard is oriented toward the Gulf of Naples from one side and Vesuvius on the other, vines are pre-philloxera and the roots sink into complex and fertile soils formed by lapillus, black sand, pumice and ash (volcanic sandy soil), organic agriculture. The vinification occur in steel cask and ages for 12 months in Allier oak barrels and then three months in bottle before leaving the cellar. Native varieties. Ungrafted vines.
Description: Paolo Sorrentino and his wife Angela inherit the family vineyards and with dedication for the production of Vesuvian wines, for fruit and vegetable cultivation, they recover all the varieties preserved by their ancestors. Thanks to Benny Sorrentino, Paolo's daughter, some changes heppened in the last 15 years to a gradual shift in the vineyards breeding methods, in their management and in winemaking techniques. They switched to guyot and, to recent experimentation with the double inverted and the spurred cordon. The management of soils and vineyards has turned towards organic and bio-sustainable, with a recent experiment of composting the prunings enriched with manure and left to ferment.

Grape: Nebbiolo 100%
Region: Treiso (Langhe) - Piemonte
Pairings: Game meat, stew and roasted beef. Pasta with wild boar ragout. Aged cheeses such as Parmigiano Reggiano. Pairs perfectly with a "Gorgonzola" cheese, red radicchio and crushed nuts risotto.
Drink by: Ready, but best after 2023 and before 2028.
Notes: Obtained by Nebbiolo grapes from the Pajore Cru, on the highill of Treiso. 25 years old vine situated at 300 meters above sea level. Fermentation and maceration occur in steel tanks at controlled temperatures for about 3/4 weeks, aging is carried out for about 12 months in Slavonian oak barrels and then 8 month in cement tanks.
Description: The Rizzi winery was born in 1974, on the old family farms of the nineteenth century, thanks to Ernesto Dellapiana. Growing up with the passion of the land and vineyards, Ernesto decided in 1973 to abandon the city and set up a paper converting industry, to pursue his greatest passions: wine, the vineyard and the land of the Langa. Ernesto decides to give it the name Rizzi, like the farmhouse that dominates the homonymous cru. Over the years Ernesto has always been committed to a constant expansion and improvement of the cellar, making it, with its 35 hectares, one of the most important and fascinating realities in the Barbaresco area. In 2004, with the entry into the cellar of Jole and Enrico, Ernesto's sons, the aspects dedicated to marketing and sales, the technical management of the farm and the cellar were also improved. Today Rizzi represents one of the most interesting realities in Piedmont, thanks to its Barbaresco, truly capable of conquering thanks to its power, combined with a surprising balance and elegance. The Barbaresco Pajorè, one of the three Barbaresco cru produced by the company, is characterized by greater structure, complexity and persitence than Nervo and Rizzi cru. 

Grape: Friulano 100%
Region: Monte Calvario (Gorizia) - Friuli Venezia Giulia
Pairings: Grilled fish, shellfish soup, fried squid or prawns, poultry.
Drink by: Ready, but it can rests some more years.
Notes: Organic agriculture, contact with the skin during the fermentation (60\90 days), not selected but indegenous yeast, marly and clayey soil, 9300 bottles produced for this vintage.
Description: We are in Gorizia, close to the border with Slovenia; it is here that Damijan Podversic created the cellar of his dreams, just as he had dreamed of it since he was 12 years old. He began his journey by taking care of the family vineyards where he was able to work closely with Josko Gravner; the one who "taught him everything and still considers his mentor today." Damijan's work has always been aimed at recovering and enhancing old vineyards and land suitable for viticulture, such as those abandoned since 1940 on Monte Calvario, where today the company boasts 8 hectares of vineyards where the yellow ribolla is grown, fundamental in the Damijan route, Istrian malvasia, Friulian, merlot and cabernet sauvignon. The deep and almost mystical link with the territory and the desire to preserve what has been achieved by it in the vineyards and to represent it with each sip of one of its bottles, in my opinion, the key to understanding Damijan's work and wines , "Wine as the poetry of the earth." On this line it is easy to understand that the philosophy both in the vineyard and in the cellar is to respect and understand the environment and its ecosystem in order to produce wines that are true expression of the territory to which they belong, "because good wine is made in the vineyard ". But let's move on to the bottle. Wine obtained from grapes grown in a complete organic regime but without reporting the wording on the label, it does not want to be catalogued by commercial logics, it does not want to condition the consumer, the wine is not cataloged, drunk, listened to, enjoyed. A white classified wine, which is called "orange" and vinified as if it were a red, here the fundamental point, the passage on the skins, in fact According to Damijan "the maceration process leaves an indelible signature on the wine by extracting 3 things: the crunchiness of the fruit, the minerality of the territory and the rhythm of the vintage ". Definitely a wine that knows how to conquer, starting from an aromaticity to the nose that involves mind and body at first glance, passing through the palate where through calibrated counterweights and symmetries a full drink is carried out, full of energy, complex and elegant in all its parts , pure expression of the territory. A wine made with the soul.

"I would be happy if my children studied philosophy before devoting themselves to oenology. You learn the techniques in the countryside and in the cellar, but first you have to decide how you intend to place yourself towards nature, and only then will you use them to make a wine with your soul ". (Damijan Podversic)

Olive: 100% Itrana
Region: Itri, Lazio
The EVO oil of Terre del Sovescio coming from Itri is rich in polyphenols and produced with natural methods. This Extra-Virgin olive oil has fruity taste with unripe tomato essences and the slightly spicy and persistent finish. The experience starts from the nose with hints of grass, crushed olive and artichoke.  Particularly suitable for seasoning raw dishes and great for grilling fishes and squids. Cold pressed and with only mechanical methods that do not alter the product.  

Olive: 100% Tonda Iblea
Region:  Siracusa, Sicily
Harvested by hand in the first day of October. Cold extracted within 12 hours of the harvest. Always in love with their land, by family tradition, culture and education, in the 90s Antonio and Lucia Ficara bought the Tenuta Cavasecca: 50 hectares with an arboreal heritage of priceless centuries-old olive trees. This EVO oil comes from the Tonda Iblea olives, harvested in the South-East of Sicily. It is less fruity and more intense with green tomato aroma, grassy and spicy on the palate.  Stunning on top of a bruschetta, previously grated with some fresh garlic. Great with soups, legumes and grilled vegetables.