Bianco di Ampeleia 2020: A Naturally Salty and Concentrated Wine with Aromatic Precision
Bianco di Ampeleia 2020 is a slender, rocky, and pleasant natural wine with a powerful saline charge, even if it does not have a great structure.
It’s not a wine that will drive you crazy; maybe you won’t keep it in the cellar for your daughter’s graduation, but rest assured that if you combine it with a good fried fish, sushi, or a plate of rice noodles with prawns and vegetables, it will make sparks.
How it is produced
The blend is based mainly on Trebbiano, with a balance of Malvasia and Ansonica. Spontaneous fermentation with maceration on the skins for a week. Aged in cement for 6 months.
Organoleptic characteristics
The nose is bright and direct, with a great balance of citrus fruits, rocks, white flowers, and a very light hint of honey and almonds.
The aromatic arrogance of Malvasia is there, but it is in the background and does not push much. Of course, baked mango, sage, and dates arrive, but travel below deck, pushed by the surf.
On the palate, it is a supernova of salt, rocks, and passion fruit.
It’s a furious concentration that doesn’t stop for a second. Instead, it jumps quickly from hot and meaty flavors to icy and sharp ones that remind you of the sea and oysters.
As we’ve already said, the structure itself is neither strong nor overpowering. It plays on the mineral skeleton and a subtle tannin that enlivens the wine, giving it flavors of herbs and roots that are subtle but easy to notice.
It’s not an orange wine with a lot of maceration, but it’s nice to see that Trebbiano is breaking away from the maceration stereotype to be daring even with leaner and more relaxed wines.
The balance is good, even if the hard parts are still dominant, but it is pleasant to feel these sharp points of rock and salt on the palate.
Drunk now, it is an intense wine, but not sour, to be combined with very tasty and fatty fish dishes, but you can leave it in the cellar for 8–10 years if you want it to transform some of this mineral fury into complexity, evolution, and aromatic depth.
Give it at least three years and it will already be excellent.
Price
20–22 euros: an acceptable price for a gastronomic wine that you can combine with all the summer fish grills.
