Terenzuola 'Vermentino Nero'
Lunigiana > IGT Toscano > Italia
Vermentino Nero & Pollera, 2022
Nestled in the most western slice of Tuscany, just over the hill from Cinque Terre is a beautiful and fascinating estate. At once both Tuscan and Ligurian, the wines of Terenzuola reflect the duality of their terroir. The vineyards face the Mediterranean, which provides warm sun and cool breezes, but also find themselves in the Apuan Alps (a subzone of the Apennine mountain chain), which provide freshness and intrigue. The resulting wines, like this unusual Vermentino Nero fermented in concrete and aged on the lees for 8 months, dances on the palate with an incredible balance of fruit, minerality, acidity and complexity. Practicing organic.
Lunigiana > IGT Toscano > Italia
Vermentino Nero & Pollera, 2022
Nestled in the most western slice of Tuscany, just over the hill from Cinque Terre is a beautiful and fascinating estate. At once both Tuscan and Ligurian, the wines of Terenzuola reflect the duality of their terroir. The vineyards face the Mediterranean, which provides warm sun and cool breezes, but also find themselves in the Apuan Alps (a subzone of the Apennine mountain chain), which provide freshness and intrigue. The resulting wines, like this unusual Vermentino Nero fermented in concrete and aged on the lees for 8 months, dances on the palate with an incredible balance of fruit, minerality, acidity and complexity. Practicing organic.
Lunigiana > IGT Toscano > Italia
Vermentino Nero & Pollera, 2022
Nestled in the most western slice of Tuscany, just over the hill from Cinque Terre is a beautiful and fascinating estate. At once both Tuscan and Ligurian, the wines of Terenzuola reflect the duality of their terroir. The vineyards face the Mediterranean, which provides warm sun and cool breezes, but also find themselves in the Apuan Alps (a subzone of the Apennine mountain chain), which provide freshness and intrigue. The resulting wines, like this unusual Vermentino Nero fermented in concrete and aged on the lees for 8 months, dances on the palate with an incredible balance of fruit, minerality, acidity and complexity. Practicing organic.
Grape: 95 % Vermentino Nero & 5% Pollera
ABV: 13%
Soil: Tuscan loam and clay soil
Story: The Giuliani family arrived in New York City in the late 1800s as immigrants from a difficult corner of Emilia Romagna. In the United States, they prospered until the great depression of 1929, when they decided to return to Italy. With their savings, they purchased a small three hectare farm in the area is known as the Lunigiana – after the city of Luni, an ancient Roman colony of the 2nd century BC.. Today, Ivan Giuliani is at the helm of the estate. As a young man, starting in 1993, he helped his uncle bottle their harvest and sold the wine to local restaurants. But in 1995, he was called away from home to complete his mandatory military service. Entirely by coincidence, he was stationed in Friuli and Slovenia—“a borderland” not unlike his native Lunigiana, nestled between Liguria and Tuscano. There he learned to make better wine alongside local vignerons and gained an appreciation for the idea of living off the land, as well as respecting it. Sustainability and environmentally-safe practices are a big part of his concern as a winemaker. When he finished his military service, he returned home and decided to dedicate his life to making wine at his family estate. In 2007, together with his friend and fellow vigneron Marco Nicolini, he renovated the cellars at Terenzuola, and brought the total hectares under his management to 18. Also in this year, he formed a partnership with Evasio Pasini, whose family for centuries had lived and cultivated vineyards in the Riomaggiore township of the Cinque Terre and in 2012 and brought the label under the umbrella of Terenzuola.
Personality: A very pretty light ruby red, perfumed with vibrant aromas of violet, black cherry syrup, marine herbs, minerals and a hint of tobacco for added complexity. The bright, penetrating violet perfume that dominates in the mouth too, with both fresh and candied violet nuances complementing the dark berry and earthy flavours. The aftertaste is long remarkably light on its feet for what is really a sneakily concentrated wine of impeccable balance helped by a backbone of graphite and flinty minerals.
Harmony: Try this slightly chilled with fish in tomato sauce, meatloaf, grilled burgers and tomato-based pasta dishes, or snag a plastic cup from the cantina and enjoy as a roadie during a long hike through the cliffside vineyards overlooking the sea across Cinque Terre.