Italy tasting

Ripe, warm and generous on the nose with abundant plum and cherry aromas, roasted coffee beans and hints of dried fruits. Full bodied and richly flavoured with berry and plum fruit, wild cherry acidity and a hint of dark chocolate. Supple tannins lead to a spicy finish, with the characteristic dry bite of good Amarone.

Montressor

The d'Annona vineyard is a fantastic single vineyard site with vines in excess of 60 years old. The grapes selected for this wine are grown on 2 small parcels totalling 3.5 ha. The grapes are hand-picked, destemmed and crushed, and innoculated with selected yeasts. The must undergoes temperature-controlled fermentation in stainless steel with pumping over four times per day. The wine is then racked to a mixture of new (two thirds) and one year old (one third) French oak barriques where it undergoes malolactic fermentation and is aged for 18-20 months. It spends a further 18 months in bottle before release.

Azienda Agricola Il Cascinone

Malvasia Nera di Brindisi (not to be confused with Malvasia Nera di Basilicata. obviously..) is another of these lesser known varieties that apparently have been knocking around Puglia for centuries and are only now emerging into the daylight of single varietal bottlings

Intense ruby red colour with purple tinges; pronounced aromas of red fruits, with hints of plum and spices. Full-bodied and well balanced, with a lively tannin and a pleasantly lingering finish of ripe red fruits.

Areore is a field blend from the vineyard that surrounds the winery. Chardonnay, Sauvignon and Tocai Friulano combine to offer a truly beautiful, very complex and really long wine. The grapes are pressed slowly and remain in the press overnight before starting co-fermentation next day. Open top stainless steel for the start of the fermentation then taken from the skins and moved to large oak once the initial phase is complete. Remains on fine lees in cask for 12 months but with no battonage, bottled and rested for a further 4 months before release.

A blend of Cataratto, Grillo & Fiano, hand harvested and fermented on skins for 2 days before finishing in oak botti (large barrels). The wine then spends at least 7 months aging on its lees.

Intensely golden in colour, which comes from the skin contact and ageing in large oak botti. The prominent bouquet has notes of coconut and tropical fruit, with an undercurrent of gentle spices. On the palate, there is a richness, balanced by well-integrated acidity. Excellent structure and length.

Ripe stone fruit aromas leading to a textured palate with citrus and apricot characters alongside nutty, mineral notes and bright acidity. The finish is long, savoury and lightly saline.