Ciu Ciu, Bacchus Rosso - Montepulciano/Sangiovese

So-named because the current owner's great grandfather worked for the local railway company, this 150-hectare organic estate was established in 1970 in Contrada Ciafone, on the Adriatic coast of Le Marche and is now under the direction of brothers Massimiliano and Walter Bartolomei. The vineyards lie among the rolling hills of the countryside in Le Marche's Offida region where the proximity to the Mediterranean Sea, combined with 300m of altitude create a unique micro-climate which ensures exceptional growing conditions. This juicy red comes from vines grown in the heart of the Rosso Piceno production area and is a 50/50 blend of Sangiovese and Montepulciano. Best drunk young and can be chilled.

A vibrant ruby-red in colour with purple hints. On the nose, notes of cherry and strawberry with a hint of liquorice. On the palate, dense and chewy with a surprisingly fresh acidity. The tannins are light and the finish crisp, making this a great food wines with ossobuco alla Milanese, dimsum and pork dumplings or game pie.

A blend of 50% Montepulciano, 50% Sangiovese. Montepulciano is the real queen grape of Piceno and despite the fact it is largely known for it’s version of Abruzzi, us in Marche have a long tradition of dealing with it. It’s very fruit forward and can give different style of wines, from easy drinking to full body and rich in tannins depending on yield per hectare, harvest time and exposure. Sangiovese is the queen grape of all central Italy and in Marche doesn’t get the crisp minerality it can reach in Tuscany, due to different soil and sun exposures. It’s therefore perfect for blending the power of Montepulciano and keeping it under control. Grapes are harvested in the mid of September (Sangiovese first) and immediately (15-20 mins) chilled with CO2 at -20° C. Then we destem the grapes and bring the clusters inside a fridge that drops down their temperature to 4°C. By doing this we make sure that first of all grapes are kept healthy without using sulphites, second their skins are kind of burnt by the extreme cold so that it takes just a very soft pressure to crash them and make them release their flavor (0.2 bar it’s our max) and last but not least once the fermentation starts the most is already cold and doesn’t need to be chilled.

The maceration and fermentation take place in a rotofermentor, for approx. 30 days at low controlled temperature (15°C). Rotofermentor is a tank which instead of standing vertical as most of the tanks, lays horizontal. This allows the skin to spread across a larger surface and expose them to a bigger quantity of must. It therefore takes shorter time to have the concentration of colour and flavor needed and this keeps the alcohol at lower levels and the tannins smooth.

Bacchus is the God of wine also known as Dioniso. He was son of Zeus and brother of Apollo and use to have an equally as important task, which is to pour wine during their dines and bacchanalias.