As the mastermind behind many winery transitions to natural winemaking Danilo Marcucci is well known, but he also makes his own wines. As a small kid, he helped and learned from his grandfather, but the older he grew was irritated by all the tricks even small-scale wineries used to make wine. So he set out to learn more about old-school winemaking from some of Italy’s new generation of low-intervention winemakers, which operated pretty much without much attention. Two decades later, most of them are now stars in what seems like a new era. As he wanted to apply his knowledge to other wineries, he helped about 10 wineries with their transition to natural winemaking and created a little community. Fortunately, his wife brought a 400-year old winery into the family, which he is now using as an experimental playground for his ideas.
Orange and fizz? Yes, even though this is a very light fizz. Using three different kinds of Trebbiano, Danilo lets some very native grapes shine in this perfect skin contact wine. After the harvest in September, the grapes macerate for ten days in small vats before they are pressed. After that, they continue to ferment in fiberglass and are refermented in the bottle and age for another year. After leaving it open for a couple of minutes, the farm notes go into the background and make room for some apricot and herbal notes. Drinking it, you will feel transported back to Umbria with some fruity saltiness and a proper tea-like tannin grip. All this makes it a perfect accompaniment for all your spicy food needs..