Italy – Arcania 2013

In autumn Udine hosts a very interesting event to promote the area 360 degrees: the Friuli DOC. I had been there a few years ago, no kids, and I worked hard to visit, taste and poke into every single stand and emerged destroyed after two intense days. This time, with the kids, the rhythms are different but the desire to snoop remains the same. I had read on the internet of organic wine in Friuli and I was curious to try them. So, while I was in line for a plate of gnocchi with duck sauce (or boar? O bull? I tried them all ...pretty awesome!) I saw towering in a stand the bottle I was looking for ... and she went directly into my bag.

Here it is the result!

Domaine and vineyard

"Castello di Arcano" is the place where they are produced organic wines and organic wines without sulfites by Arcania Srl, a company born from the desire of five ancient farms of Friuli - which for several years practicing organic viticulture – to vinify their grapes into a single modern winery.

Organic wines and organic wines without sulfites Arcania are the answer to the request of the most demanding consumers looking for a product to ensure high organoleptic qualities but also certified health.

With our wines made exclusively from grapes produced by the method of organic farming, it pursues the goal of obtaining high-quality results, while protecting the environment, focusing, even during the vinification, physical interventions (controls temperature, filtration, decanting static cold ...) at the expense of those chemicals.

The wine

Arcania 2013 is derived from grapes harvested manually during the third decade of September. The vineyard planted on sandy soil and clay variously mixed with gravel and bred Guyot (average density of 3333 plants / ha) with a yield of about 7 tons per hectare.

The winemaking involves a prolonged maceration of the grapes (about 12-15 days) and fermentation takes place at a controlled temperature of 25 °.

Tasting Note

Date	15 November 2014
Wine name	ARCANIA	Vintage	2013
Nation	Italy	Region	Friuli Venezia Giulia
AOC-DOC	Friuli Grave	Grape Varieties	Refosco dal peduncolo rosso
Serving temperature	17-18° C	Alcohol	12,5
Price (in euro)	8	SO2 (in mg/l)	70

Visual Examination		Taste analysis
Limpidity	Limpid	Body	Weak
Color	Ruby Red	Balance	Quiet Balanced
Consistency	Quiet consistent	Soft sensations	Quite Warm – Scarcely Soft
Effervescence	//	Hard sensations	Quite Fresh – Scarcely Tannic
		Flavors intensity	Quite intense
Olfactory analysis		Flavors	Berries
Aroma intensity	Quiet Intense
Complexity	Scarcely complex	Finish/Persistence	Scarcely persistent
Quality	Quite Fine	Overall evaluations
Aromas	Berries, grapes	Development	Ready
		Harmony	Quiet Harmonious

Food pairing

Indicated for tasty meat, roasts, poultry, rabbit

I bought this bottle for two reasons: the organic certification and the real passion for Refosco. Of organic wines, in Italy there are very few (unlike France) and even fewer (anyone?) are those of high range. The production seems to be for wine ready to drink, from meal, without seeking results from long aging in the cellar.

But perhaps this is part of philosophy of trying to produce as much as possible respecting the nature: a wine to be consumed in a short time and to be finished ... before the next harvest.

In this “light” version Refosco is a good product but in my opinion undervalued with body, scents and aromas below its possibilities. I would think of it as a table wine, the kind that once would have taken directly from the carboy of local producer and that they would very well supported every dish.

But, in all honesty, it is not what I look for in a wine.

Official website: www.castellodiarcano.it