Tenuta Grillo Baccabianca 2008

Incredible skin-contact Cortese. Was planning to hold onto this longer, but sometimes a wine just calls to you and you answer. Non-vulgar is exactly right - there's a charming restraint to the bouquet of pine nuts, apricot jam, dried herbs, and cherry plum, with just enough VA to keep things interesting. Almost perfect balance here, with intensity that doesn't shout and tannins delicate as lace. The real magic? It's mature yet somehow still fresh, like it's figured out how to age backwards. Rustic charm meets deep elegance, with hints of cognac creeping in at the edges. This is what skin contact should aspire to be.

Baccabianca is a unique 100% Cortese skin-contact wine. It comes from vines that are 40 and 15 years old. It undergoes 60 days of skin contact with native yeasts, spontaneous fermentation, 12 months of ageing in steel tanks, and 5 years in bottles. Around 6000 bottles are produced annually.

It's not often that I enjoy an 'orange' wine, but some are so distinct, unique, and well-made that they leave me in awe. This one is just beautiful---an age-defining Cortese. A non-vulgar and charming bouquet of pine nut, apricot jam, dried herbs, cherry plum, and a touch of VA. Almost perfectly balanced, with nice intensity and delicate tannins. Mature, yet so fresh. This wine shows rustic charm and deep elegance.

Wow. A serious, sophisticated, and non-vulgar skin-contact wine. Notes of apricot jam, dried herbs, dried apricot, cherry plum, and nuts, with some cognac-like hints. But what stands out is how balanced and seamless it is, while still maintaining intensity---tannins are powerful, but mature and integrated. Quaffable.

Baccabianca

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