When in Rome-Our Favorite Restautants

Michele and I rented an apartment in Rome again in February.

We have decided that for us it is better than a winter vacation to Florida, Mexico or the Caribbean. While it may not be as warm, the food is much better and Rome is Rome and we love it. These are the restaurants that Michele and I go back to every time we are in Rome.

Trattoria da Giggetto– Michele and I always go to the same place for lunch when we arrive in Rome.  We drop off our bags and walk to Da Giggetto (39-066861 05) at Portico D’Ottavia 21/A-22 in the Jewish ghetto.

I do not need to look at the menu because I always order the same things: fiori di zucca ripieni con mozzarella e alici.  The flowers were small and crunchy and very good.

I also get carciofi alla giudia  (fried artichoke) and spaghetti con vongole veraci.

The tiny clams were tender and seasoned with just the right amount of parsley, garlic, olive oil and a hint of hot pepper.  Michele had carciofi alla romana, braised artichoke and fettuccine with ragu. We drank the Passerina del Fruisnate IGT 2014 from Feudi Del Sole. It went very well with the food even with the fried artichoke.

Trattoria Armando al Pantheon-Salita de’ Crescenzi 21 This is one of Michele’s favorite restaurants in Rome and one of the restaurants that you have to make a reservation for lunch or dinner. We only started going here a few years ago and have been going there ever since.

I started with grilled bread Roman style with butter and anchovies,  while Michele had Buffalo mozzarella with braised Roan artichoke.

Then we had spaghetti alla Matriciana, chicken in white wine with peppers, and grilled sausages with lentils.

We drank Ghemme 2005 “Collis Brechema” Antichi Vigneti di Cantalupo

IL Martriciano Via dei Gracchi, 55    06 32 13 040-06 32 12 327

Michele and I have been coming here for the last 35 years and nothing changes, the owners, the waiters and the menu are the same. I started as usual with a carciofo romano, fried zucchini flowers stuffed with mozzarella and anchovies and of course bucatini matriciana

I had the roasted baccala with potatoes in a tomato and onion sauce, which was delicious.

Michele had Vignarola, peas, artichokes and fava beans.

And for dessert

Ristorante Ar Galletto Piazza Farnese 104   06 686 1714

Michele likes to come here when the weather is warm so we can sit outside because the restaurant is in the Piazza Farnese and she loves the view.

We had fiori di zucca, fried artichoke, spaghetti with fresh anchovies and pecorino.

and crostata for dessert.

We drank Offida Pecorino 2014 “Merlettale” from Ciú Ciú.

Checchino Dal 1887 (www.checchino1887.com), Via  Monte 30 Testaccio.

The Mariani family has owned the restaurant since 1887. Francesco Mariani takes care of the front of the house while his brother Elio is in the kitchen.

Michele and I have been coming here since 1981. It is the restaurant where I drank Fiorano Rosso for the first time. The vintage was 1961

We went with friends that live in Rome and they were surprised when the Francesco came over and the first thing he said was, “I have one bottle of Fiorano Rosso left, the 1983, do you want it?” That was a trick question. Of course I wanted it!

Considering the wine and the food, it is the best restaurant in Rome with over six hundred wines from Italy and all over the world. The wine cellar is dug into Monte Testaccio, a hill made from broken amphorae, which date back to Ancient Rome. Francesco gave us a tour of the cellar that holds over 600 wines.

The slaughterhouses of Rome used to be located here and the restaurant still specializes in the so-called quinto quarto, the fifth quarter, or innards and other spare parts.

We ate Artichoke alla Romana

Bucatini all’Amatriciana

Fegato di Vitello ai ferri, and grilled baby lamb chops.

For dessert

We also drank a Cesanese 2013 “Amarasco” Principe Pallavicini.

 

 

 

Nil Nisi Bonum? and Giacomo Tachis

From Tom’s WIne: The following is a blog post by Tom Maresca and I am in full agreement!

Nil Nisi Bonum?

February 22, 2016

By now, every wine lover of any pretentions has heard of the death of Giacomo Tachis, a figure of central importance in the 20th century Italian wine scene. The homages have been unstinting and the praise unqualified. (See for instance the New York Times’s reverential obituary.) I have even seen him credited with introducing temperature-controlled fermentation – a decisively important development for Italian wine, to be sure, but the credit for it belongs to many individuals in many countries, not to Tachis alone.

I know we are supposed to speak only good of the dead, but I feel strongly that Tachis’s influence, though crucial for the commercial success of Tuscan wines in the sixties, seventies, and eighties of the last century (god, saying that makes me feel ancient!), has been in the long run baneful for the development of Italy’s wine culture. That’s the reason behind this contrarian take on his enological legacy.

Tachis of course achieved fame and prominence first for his work with the Antinori firm, primarily in the development of Sassicaia, Tignanello, and Solaia. Tachis did not, as many people seem to believe, invent Sassicaia. Rather, he lucked into it. The Antinori’s cousins, the Incisa della Rocchetta family, had – back in the forties, I believe – planted an unlikely stretch of their property in the Tuscan Maremma (a very untraditional area for serious winemaking then and even much later) in the two Cabernets, sauvignon and franc, which their patriarch loved. The family had for years been vinifying them for their own consumption.

It is unclear – I have heard several versions of the story – whether the Incisa della Rocchetta approached the Antinori or the Antinori approached their cousins about commercializing the wine. But the Antinori did successfully accomplish that, and Sassicaia began winning prizes and gathering attention from press and public and wine lovers generally.

Many people speak of Tachis as a student of Emile Peynaud, the great Bordeaux enologist and teacher. That is not literally true, though Tachis was an intense admirer of Peynaud’s work and writings. His own talent was for blending, a skill that fits very nicely into the traditions of both Tuscany and Bordeaux. With Piero Antinori’s backing, reinforced by the commercial and prestige success of Sassicaia, he soon developed Tignanello, which, except for its first vintage, has been a blend of predominantly Sangiovese with about 20% Cabernet sauvignon. Tachis then followed that with Solaia, a blend of mostly Cabernet sauvignon with about 20% Sangiovese and a little Cabernet franc.

These were immensely successful wines, soon spoken of in the press as Super Tuscans, a nom de guerre that, as the practice of using “international varieties” spread within Tuscany and Italy at large, almost pushed native Tuscan wines into economic oblivion. And there is why I think Tachis’s influence has been in the long run harmful, not just for Tuscan wine but for Italian wine generally.

I don’t drink Tignanello and Solaia. I just don’t like ‘em. They don’t taste Tuscan to me, and they don’t taste French. They taste commercial, as if they could have been grown and vinified anywhere, of almost any grapes. They’re sleek, and polished, and hollow at the heart, as most of the now-happily-fading-into-oblivion Super Tuscans all were. But their 20-year run of commercial success left vineyards of Cabernet sauvignon, Cabernet franc, Merlot, and Syrah dotted all over Italy, while perfectly worthy but untrumpeted native varieties have been allowed to languish.

Rucché, anyone? Pignolo? Pallagrello? Nerello?  These are varieties capable of making great wine, and there are many more such indigenous vines all through Italy. Their development has been slowed, and even their survival threatened, by the to-my-mind undeserved and unwarranted attention to international varieties. Beyond that, many Italian wines have been denatured – homogenized – by the continued admixture of international varieties. Cabernet sauvignon and Syrah particularly – even in small quantities – take over a blend and drown the distinctive characters of the native grapes.

For both these effects, it seems to me that Tachis and the Antinori must take primary responsibility. I’m not a forgiving sort: I will hold that grudge as long as a single Italian winemaker muddies the character of Sangiovese with Cabernet. And I every day bless the Piemontese and Campanian winemakers who resisted the lure of such varieties and stuck faithfully to their native grapes. Nebbiolo and Aglianico are powerful consolations in a world elsewhere gone awry.

Tasting Older Frascati at Fontana Candida

When Michele and I told Lars Leicht of Cru Artisan Wines that we would be spending 3 weeks in Rome, he suggested that we visit Fontana Candida in Frascati, less than 30 minutes away by train.

Two of the white Fontana Candida wines, Vigneto Santa Teresa Fascati Superiore and Luna Mater can age. I had tasted these wines a few years ago and wanted to see how they were holding up.

Mauro Merz, the oenologist and director, whom I had met in NYC, met us at the station and after a short ride we were at the winery.

The production zone of the DOC Frascati wine includes the entire territories of the communes of Frascati, Grottaferrata and Monte Porzio Catone and parts of the communes of Rome and Montecompatri.

Mauro and Michele

Mauro began by giving us a tour of the vineyards. He said Fontana Candida has 25 hectares of its own vineyards but they also buy grapes from 210 different growers.  Mauro made it a point to say they buy grapes and not juice. In 2005 they started a vineyard-based project to help their growers. They hired a top agronomist and he acted as a consultant to the growers free of charge. Fontana Candida also paid the growers above market price if they produced healthier and more mature grapes.

He said they have two cellars: the vinification cellar at Frascati and the bottling cellar at Monteporzio Catone.

He pointed out a small section of the vineyard where the vines were tied to long stakes in the ground. He said this was the way the vines were trained in the past. It was a good system because you could have 10,000 plants per hectare but because the plants were so close it was easy for disease to spread.

We were takes on a tour of the cellar by Luca Gariboldi. The cellar is carved from tufa, volcanic rock and is perfect for storing the wine. Luca showed us a number of older vintages. He took from the cellar the 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2007 Luna Mater for us to taste.

Luca Gariboldi

He said that 2013 was such a difficult vintage that they did make the Luna Mater that year. 2014 was also a difficult vintage but the wine came out better than expected.

We started with the Vigneto Santa Teresa Fascati Superiore 2014 DOC It is 30% Malvasia Puntinata del Lazio, 30% Malvasia di Candia, 30% Trebbiano Toscano and 10% Greco. The grapes come from a 13-acre vineyard of which seven and a half are planted in Malvasia del Puntinata del Lazio and four acres in Greco. It is in the locality of Santa Teresa, in the commune of Rome. The 30-year-old vines are trained using the cordone speronato system at 985 feet above sea level on soil of volcanic origin with a southern exposure. Mauro called it a “light soil that looked like talcum powder”. They are not allowed to irrigate so the roots of the vines have to go deep to find water.  Mauro said that 2014 was a difficult vintage because there was a lot of rain and humidity. There is a selective picking of the different grape varieties according to the rate of ripening. Malvasia was picked first, followed by the Greco and then the Trebbiano. The Trebbiano and Greco were gently pressed followed by a classic white wine vinification. The Malvasia was cold fermented on the skins for 12 hours. After a natural clarification the must was fermented with selected yeasts and left to rest in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks until bottling in early spring. Mauro called this an elegant wine. The wine had white peach aromas and flavors and a hint of apple and smoke. It has good mineralogy, acidity and a finish and aftertaste of almonds.  At the moment this wine is no longer imported into the U.S because of a dispute over the name. 

Luna Mater Frascati Superiore DOC 2014, Fontana Candida Made from 50% Malvasia di Candia, 30% Malvasia del Lazio, 10% Greco and 10% Bombino. The grapes are grown in selected hillside vineyards ranging between 650 and 1,300 feet in the communes of Frascati and Monteporzio Catone.  The volcanic soil is loose, porous and dry but not arid. Spalliera, Guyot and Cordone Speronato training systems are used.

First, selected bunches of mature grapes are picked by hand. Then the best grapes from each bunch are chosen. The grapes are transported in small baskets directly to the cellar so that they will be in perfect condition when they arrive.

The vinification of the grapes for the Luna Mater is a process that they invented and takes place in three different stages. In the cellar the grapes are separated into two batches. This is called the “modern” stage. The first batch is cooled immediately prior to a gentle pressing to ensure maximum aromatic qualities. The second batch is destemmed, cooled and fermented in contact with the skins to produce a marked varietal character. This is done without oxygen to keep the grapes fresh. After 6-7 days the skins were removed, any longer than this and there would be too much extract.

Three days later a small quantity of the best grapes are destemmed by hand and added whole to the fermenting must with their own natural yeast for bouquet and flavor. The berries remain in the must until the end of February.  The alcohol helps extract tannin from the skins and pits. The wine is aged in 10HL acacia wood barrels, which may be the best wood for the Malvasia grapes. The barrels are not toasted and were steam folded.

Mauro  feels  barriques do not give him the type of wine he wants to produce and they are not traditional.  The wine is left to age in bottles laid horizontally in the ancient tufa tunnels under the Frascati hillsides.

Luna Mater means Mother Moon; it reflects the wine’s close ties to nature and the 50 old vines that are used to make this wine. It has floral aromas with hints of white peach and honey with bitter almond in the finish and a very pleasing aftertaste.

The first vintage was 2007 and it was vinified and aged in stainless steel and some toasted barriques.

The 2010, 2009, and 2008 tasted better than I remember from the tasting in NY in 2011.They were showing no signs of age. The 2011 and 2012 could use some more time. This is a wine that can age and gets much better with time.

Luca took us to Locanda Dello Spuntino in Grottafretto for lunch. We drank the wines with an assortment of antipasti and typical pasta dishes.

 

Carnival Lasagna and Carnival Pizza in Naples

 

We arrived in Naples but our luggage did not. When we arrived at the hotel, the room was not ready. No room and no luggage. So, naturally, we went for pizza at da Ettore, Via Santa Lucia 56.   We had not been here for a number of years but Michele had always liked the pizza and it was not far from the hotel.

Although there is a lot of buzz in Naples now about all the hot new pizza places, Da Ettore is traditional Neapolitan pizza at it best. We started with fried zucchini flowers, which were batter fried and unstuffed. Delicious. Then I had the pizza margarita.

Michele had the margarita with bufala mozzarella. Both were light and judiciously sauced with tasty tomatoes and good cheese.

Osteria Della Mattonella Via G. Nicotera 13. Since it was Carnevale in Naples, every restaurant was serving Lasagna di Carnevale, a Neapolitan interpretation of the classic pasta, layered with sausages, tiny meatballs, ricotta, hard cooked eggs and cheese.

Michele said it was just like the one her grandmother use to make. A very old fashioned restaurant, the walls here are covered in tiles and photos of Neapolitan film stars, such as Toto and Sofia Loren. To reach it, you must take an elevator from the street below, Via Chiaia.

Da Nennella 103 Vico LungoTeatro Nuovo. This is a very popular restaurant because the food is very good and the prices are very low.

I started with Alici Fritti, and then Mezzi Paccheri al Pomodoro Fresco which was wonderful Michele had Palline di Ricotta Fritte and Mezzi Paccheri con Zucca and Provola, pasta rings with squash and smoked mozzarella. On the way out, we were given small plastic chips that we could exchange for caffe and baba. Noisy, busy and a lot of fun, plus the food was very good.

MUU_ Muuzzarella Lounge, Vico 2 Alabardieri This restaurant was around the corner from our hotel and they served mozzarella with meat, vegetables or fish. We had Mozzarella E Soppressata, Fiori di Zucca con Ricotta, and Mozzarella in Carrozza, but the highlight was the Ricotta di latte di bufala with honey, pine nuts and raisins.   I could not stop eating it, slathered on good bread. 

La Taverna a Santa Chiara 6  We started with Fried Provola and an assortment of local Cheeses and Salumi. Then I had Fusilli Pasta with Tomato and Ricotta di Fuscella, what is often sold in the US as “basket cheese”, a drier form of fresh ricotta (to die for). Michele had Maccheroncini with Eggplant, Zucchini and Small Tomatoes. Then we shared Grilled Sausages and Friarielli (the local broccoli rabe), and a half liter of Gragnano.

Da Attilio in Spaccanapoli, via Pignasecca 17 In the colorful Pignasecca Market, this small pizzeria filled up quickly at lunchtime. I had the Carnival pizza, star shaped pizza with the points of the crust filled with ricotta. We also shared a Pizza Margarita and Pizza Fresca with arugula and prosciutto.

Ciro a Santa Brigida, Via Santa Brigida 71/73  Our last meal in Naples was particularly memorable. This is a place we return to often. We began with Fried zucchini flowers, which were crisp and flavorful. Then I had the Octopus alla Luciana, with lemon and olive oil and Ziti alle Genovese, ziti with an onion and meat sauce, a Neapolitan classic.

Michele had Linguine with Moscardini (baby octopus) and tiny tomatoes, followed by a Frittura Misto di Pesce, little fish, calamari and shrimp fried in a crispy crust. With it we drank Pallagrello Bianco.

For dessert I had a classic crème caramel.

 

A Taste of the Alto Adige

Guests were coming and Michele decided to make beef goulash, a recipe from her book The Italian Slow Cooker.

I was surprised when she mentioned “goulash”, but she said that northern Italy’s Alto Adige region has more in common with neighboring Austria than it does with the rest of Italy. I decided to serve some wines from the Alto Adige to go with the meal.

The Alto Adige (Südtirol) region, which borders on Austria and Switzerland, is at the foot of the Alps and the Dolomites. The Alps protect it from inclement weather from the North and the Atlantic, while the Dolomites protect the vineyards from the cold, damaging winds from the east.  Along with its proximity to the Mediterranean and Lake Garda, this makes it an excellent region to grow grapes. It is interesting to note that in the summer, the temperature in Bolzano is higher than in Palermo in Sicily.

The people that live here call their region the Sud Tirol and themselves Tyroleans. The food is decidedly Austrian with only a hint of Italy.  Ham is called Speck and they have a cheese called Weinkase Lagrein and bread called Schuttelbrot.

I decided on 3 wines from one of my favorite wineries, the Abbazia di Novacella, a monastery.

The Abbazia di Novacella is located in the northern most winegrowing region of Italy in the Alto Adige on the southern side of the Alps where the vineyards for the white wines are located. The monastery also owns vineyards in the warm central region of the Alto Adige, which supplies the red grapes such as Lagrein from the Mariaheim vineyard in Bolzano.

Kerner 2014 DOC Alto Adige-Valley Isarco 100% Kerner the vineyards are located in the municipalities of Bressanone, Varna and Naz-Sciaves and are at 600 to 700 meters. The soil is gravelly morainal deposits and the exposure is south-southwest. The training system is guyot and there are 6,000 to 7,000 vines per hectare. The harvest takes place in early October. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks at 20°C. Natural and selected yeast is used and the wine remains in stainless steel tanks for 6 months before it is bottled. This is an aromatic white wine with hints of apple and peach, ripe and full with crisp acidity.

In 1929 August Herold a German crossed of a red variety Schiava and Riesling. The result was Kerner named in honor of the poet and physician, Justinus Kerner from Swabia. We had drank the Kerner with thinly sliced speck and ripe pears.

Muller Thurgau 2014 DOC Alto Adige-Isarco -Same as above. This is a fresh and fruity, delicately aromatic white wine with hints of lemon, green apple. It has good acidity.

Herman Muller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau created this white grape variety in 1882. Recent DNA testing shows it is a cross between Riesling and Madeleine Royal and not Sylvaner as was once believed. We had this with gnocchi in a light tomato sauce.

Lagrein 2014 Alto Adige DOC 100% Lagrein The vineyard is at 260 to 350 meters and the soil is a mixture of sand, clay and eroded quartzite porphyry. There are 2,500 to 3,00 vines/ha and the training system is guyot. Harvest is in early October. Fermentation with natural and selected yeasts takes place in stainless steel punch down tanks and lasts for about 15 days. This is followed by malolactic fermentation and maturation in 60hl oak casks for about 6 months and 2 months in bottle before release. It has hints of violets, blackberries and black cherry with a touch of coffee and dark chocolate.

It was the perfect accompaniment to the beef goulash.

 

 

 

Benvenuto Brunello NYC 2016

The Consorzio del Vino  Brunello di Montalcino presents Benvenuto Brunello USA 2016 in NYC, its annual trade tasting, celebrating 50 years of DOC wines and showcasing the Brunello di Montalcino 2011. The walk-around tasting featured over 40 wineries from Montalcino.

I also attended the seminar on the 2011 Brunello. I enjoy the seminar because I can taste the wine, listen to the speakers, and find out the latest news from Montalcino. The Moderator was Jeff Porter, beverage director for the Batali and Bastianich hospitality group.

There was an overview of Montalcino and then a discussion of the 2010 and 2011 vintages. Jeff Porter   and the representative of the Consortium agreed that 2012 was a great vintage and a better vintage than the 2011 and I had to agree. The Consortium gave the 2010 5 stars, its highest rating and called it an outstanding vintage. The 2011 was given 4 stars and called an excellent vintage. Mr. Porter said that it would be a good restaurant wine because it is more approachable than the 2010. He added that it is a good wine for the consumer as well.

I liked the 2011 vintage and it probably will not age as long as the 2010 but that is something only time will tell.

While we use terms like more approachable, restaurant wine, consumer friendly etc, I would not even think of drinking the 2011  until 2021, after all it is a Brunello!

There were 7 wines tasted and 6 of them were my kind of wines. All of them were aged in botti, large oak barrels. Only one was aged in both 500 liter barrels and botti. There was not a barrique in sight. I asked the representative if this was done on purpose and he said the wines were picked at random. Trying to bring my point home I asked if there was a movement in Montalcino away from barriques and concentrated wines toward wines which tasted like the grape and the terroir. Mr. Porter said that he believed that this was true not only in Montalcino but in the wine world in general. He said this was in response to the consumers that now prefer this type of wine.

The Brunello

Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2011 Belpoggio The soil is calcareous with many skeletons and the elevation is 350 meters. Traditional fermentation takes place with 15 to 18 days of maceration at a controlled temperature. The wine is aged for 24 to 36 months in 30 to 40 hl oak casks. $50 

Brunello Di Montalcino 2011 DOCG Capanna. The soil is Galestro, with many stones and the elevation is 855 to 984 ft. Harvest is by hand, with careful selection of the grapes. They are immediately de-stemmed and fermentation with the skins takes place for 20 to 22 days in Slavonian vats at a controlled temperature. After drawing off, the wine completes the malolactic fermentation in the same vats where it is naturally cooled down.$40

The wine is aged in Slavonia oak barrels 20 to 30 hl until bottling in June of 2015. The bottles are refined in thermo-conditioned rooms and went on sale January 2016. $45

Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2011 Castello Tricerchi The vineyard is at 300 meters and the exposure is south/west and the soil is clayey and sandy. Training system is spurred cordon, there are 4,000 plants/hectare and the vines are 15 years old. Harvest is by hand in early October. Maceration is in stainless steel vats at a controlled temperature for 14 days. Malolactic fermentation continues for 5 months. Aging is in 15 to 20 hl Slavonic casks for 42 month and 6 months in bottle before release. For them 2011 was a very good vintage. It has hints of black cherry, strawberry, tobacco and spice. $45

Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2011 Col D’Orcia. Made from a particular clone of Sangiovese selected by Col d’Orcia. The vineyard is at 300 meters in the hills over looking the Orcia River with a south/southwest exposure, the soil is from the Eocene period in origin, loose, with little clay and rich in limestone. Fermentation is on the skins form18 to 20 days at a controlled temperature in 150 hlwide and shallow stainless steel tanks, designed in order to extract tannins and color efficiently but delicately. Aging is for 4 years: 3 years in 25, 50 and 75 hl Slavonic and Allier oak casks followed by at least 12 months of refinement in bottle. Since 2013 Col D’Orcia is the largest wine-producing farm in Tuscany. $55

Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2011 Pian Delle Vigna (Antinori) 3.5 miles south of Montalcino. There are 65 hectares under vines, and the soil is mostly clayey and calcareous with many small stones. After a careful selection both in the vineyard and cellar, the grapes are de-stemmed and delicately pressed; the must then goes into temperature controlled stainless steel tanks where it ferments and remains on its skins for a period of about 3 weeks. The wine has then completed malolactic fermentation. Aging is in 30 to 80hl oak casks for over 2 years. The wine was bottled in April of 2014. $80

Brunello Di Mantalcino 2011 DOCG Tenuta Buon Tempo the vineyard surface area is 5 hectares at 350 meters and the soil is sandstone-galestro marl. The exposure is south/east, the training system is spurred cordon and there are 3,33/6,250 plants per hectare. Harvest is from September 10 to 20. Fermentation with natural yeast in temperature controlled stainless steel, with minimum possible oxygenation, with pumping over and a duration of 7 to 10 days. Maceration in stainless steel, carried out without exposure to air for 15 to 20 days. Aging 24 to 30 months in 500 liter French oak barrels (20% new) and 12 to 18 months in big 64hl Slovonian oak casks and 6 months in bottle. $50

New owners brought the property, changed the name and are moving away from new oak. The former owners used 50% new oak.

Brunello Di Montalcino 20111 DOCG Uccelliera. Production area Castelnovo dell’Abate, south/east of Montalcino, vineyard extension is 15.5 acres at 820ft. The soil is rich in minerals, medium textured sand and clay, with some gravel. The grapes are selected, de-stemmed and crushed. The must is kept for 4 to 5 days at low temperatures. Later the temperature is raised and alcoholic fermentation takes place naturally for 15 days in stainless steel. At the same time, the must macerates on the skins for about 7 days. After drawing off, the wine is kept in steel, malolactic occurs and the wine is kept in Slovenia and French oak barrels for 36 months, then aged in bottle for another 18 months, before release. This wine was a little more international in style. $64