Bianco (Sulle Bucce)

One of the fun benefits with a small winery is that we can experiment with small lots of, hopefully, interesting wines.  If they work out, we celebrate.  If not, we drink them quietly by ourselves or relegate them to the “circular file”.

Such is the case with the Sulle Bucce.  The technical details of this wine can be found on the wine page, but we thought you might be interested in the idea behind its genesis.  Ribolla Gialla is a very tannic white wine.  When whole cluster pressed, very few of these tannins remain in the wine.  For the Sulle Bucce, we crushed ½ ton (1 barrel) of the grapes and allowed the juice to ferment on the skins for 4 weeks.  Normally the fermentation is complete in 6-8 days, but we wanted more skin contact (extended masceration).

The wine is truly unique.  Three months after harvest, we were ready to throw it out.  By April of 2005, the parts had started to come together, and the tannins had begun to soften.  A highly respected sommelier who tasted it and helped with the final blend, said to treat it like a red wine – age it for another year – and his restaurant would buy it all.  We followed his recommendation but only gave him half of our small production.

In trying to describe this wine and its best enjoyment, we have served it with a broad spectrum of foods.  One example is with chicken breasts.  We seared the chicken on the barbeque, smothered it on the stove top with roasted pepita sauce (a spicy roasted tomato sauce with toasted pumpkin seeds, chipotle and lime juice) and allowed the chicken to finish cooking.  The flavors of the Sulle Bucce were a wonder-ful accompaniment with this dish and a good match for its assertive flavors.  We also sipped it with buffalo burgers with great success.

Sulle Bucce is a wine for the adventurous.  It is definitely a food wine.  We believe we have come up with a different concept for this wine.  Instead of thinking about it as a beverage, sip it with food as a flavor enhancer.   Incidentally, the wine needs to “breathe” for about 20 - 30 minutes after opening for the flavors to develop fully.   Actually, decanting it is best.  Serve at room temperature.

See more details on this wine at Bianco (Sulle Bucce).

So, join us in our interesting journey, and please give us some feedback on the Sulle Bucce.