A table red (but not only)

All of us somehow drawn to wine, to wines, would love to visit the places where they come to life. To speak with the people who bring them into being, to walk through the vineyards where the clusters ripen, to see the cellars where the musts ferment and the rooms where the wines are refined. In short, to discover the terroir that lends uniqueness to the wines we love. This is not always possible, for various reasons.
I believe, however, that winemakers who respect the vineyard, the vine, the grape and the territory – in practicing their idea and feeling of wine – manage to transfer all of this into the bottle and make us partakers of it through its liquid contents.

Vittorio Mattioli, farmer and winemaker in Terzo la Pieve, Spoleto, makes several wines.

I tried his "Vino Rosso della casa". Being a table wine, the label carries neither the vintage year nor the grape varieties. He does tell us, however, that the wine was obtained from red-berried grapes fermented for six days on the skins with their native yeasts, without temperature control. It rests for a long period in glass-lined cement vats and is then bottled without the addition of sulphites.

The wine has not been filtered, yet in the glass it appears clear and fairly transparent. Ruby tending toward garnet, it reflects the light in a lively manner. The arches on the sides of the glass indicate a good density.

On the nose it is intense with red fruit, cherry above all – whole and crisp. Swirling the glass reveals animal notes of leather that then linger in the background, lending depth to the wine. The cherry returns with force, this time spirit-like, but the impression is not of an evolved or old wine, but rather of a complex and fascinating one.

On the palate it enters soft, almost sweet, which suggests a certain over-ripeness of the grapes; then an almost nervous acidity gives it vigour and hints at a good percentage of Sangiovese. The finish is almost bitter, while on the retronasal everything perceived by direct route returns amplified. Good aromatic persistence for a wine that expresses an earthy strength yet is at the same time refined.

It is good now, but can comfortably rest a couple of years in the cellar.

To be tried with norcineria umbra o toscana, ragù di cinghiale, and for those who smoke, with a good Antico Toscano.