Tasting: This wine has a savory, herbal, kombucha personality. Flavors of smoked peach, tropical fruit and stone. Smoked peach, tropical fruit, stony minerality. Pairing: Ethiopian and Morrocan spiced dishes, Bibimbap.
Grape: Glera, Pinot Bianco, Chardonnay, Tocai, Verduzzo
Glera is the primary grape of prosecco. Prosecco is an immensely popular sparkling wine made in north-east Italy. This Prosecco making zone spans from Vicenza to Triste and encompasses over 34,500 acres. In 2003 this region produced over 300 million bottles of wine. Historically, this region was an IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica), so to lock in this region's ownership of the Prosecco brand, they renamed the grape variety used to make it to Glera in 2009 and registered the region name "Prosecco" as a Protected Denomination of Origin (DOC).
Pinot Bianco (Pinot Blanc) is a historically French Variety, first observed in Burgundy at the end of the 19th century. It is a white mutation of Pinot Gris (which is itself a lighter berried version of Pinot Noir). Although it originated in Burgundy, today it is found all over Europe. Pinot Blanc is notable for it's piercing aroma and perfumed notes.
Chardonnay is another native grape to Burgundy (France) and is solely responsible for "White Burgundy" wines. Chardonnay mania reached a peak in the late 1980s during that time it's plantings totaled around 247,000 acres. By 2010 that acreage increase to almost 500,000 acres. Winemakers love Chardonnay for it's malleability. It will respond to a much wider range of winemaking techniques than other white grapes and has the ability to age in the bottle, even when picked early.
Tocai is now widely known as sauvignon vert (also known as Sauvignonasse or Friulano) is a white wine grape of the species Vitis vinifera prevalent in the Italian region of Friuli. It is widely planted in Chile where it was historically mistaken for Sauvignon blanc. The grape is distinct from the California planting of Muscadelle which is also called Sauvignon vert. Friulano from Friuli-Venezia Giulia was known as “Tocai” Friulano until March 31, 2007 when the European Court of Justice of Luxembourg set the prohibition of using the name “Tocai” in the name of the wine (as stipulated in a 1993 agreement between the European Union and Hungary). Since 2007 Tocai Friulano is merely known as “Friulano” in Friuli and is labeled as such.
Verduzzo (or Verduzzo Friulano) is a white Italian wine grape grown predominantly in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of northeast Italy. It is also found in significant plantings in the Piave Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) of the Veneto region, though some of these plantings may be of the separate Verduzzo Trevigiano variety. Verduzzo Friulano is used in varietal and blended wines, many of which fall under DOC as well as vino da tavola designations, that range in style from dry to late harvest wines. According to wine expert Oz Clarke, most of the sweeter examples of Verduzzo can be found in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia with the grape being used for progressively drier styles of the wine the further west into the Veneto.
Region: Veneto, Italy
Veneto is Italy's most productive wine region in the north east. It stretches westerward to Lake Garda and northward to the Alps and the Austrian border. Within this region is the city of Venice, an important power int he wine trade of the Middle Ages, whose legacy has shaped some wines in Veneto and even elsewhere. Much of this regions wines are characterized by high volume, pleasant, easy drinking wines (think Pinot Grigio and Prosecco). However, small producers in the region provide exceptional and interesting wines through focusing on terroir rather than volume.
Farming: Biodyamic
Vinification: Grapes are co-fermented, macerated on the skins (for a few days), and then aged on the lees in bottle for 10 months. Unfined, unfiltered, minimal to no SO2.
About the Winemaker: Working alongside her father, Carolina Gatti began learning how to make wine when she was 3 years old on her family’s estate in the Piave region of Veneto, northeastern Italy. After getting a degree in oenology she began to experiment with wines made “in a scholastic way” with wines made “relying on instinct”. She returned home to collaborate with her father, since 2012 she has been running the estate; “even if the right arm is the father and sometimes the left my brother”. She uses biodynamic, traditional and low intervention methods in both the vineyards and cellar.