The best Italian orange wine under 30 euros is Carpino Vis Uvae 2016
The Carpino Vis Uvae 2016 is an amazing orange wine, an artfully made Pinot Grigio, full and fragrant, sharp, with great depth and juice and lots of drinkability.
It has a bewitching charm, a sculpted body, and the eloquence and ease of drinking that few coppery Pinot Gris have.
Not only is it thick and sticky, but it also has light tannins that give it body and make the smell of the wine stronger. All of this is done without making the drink too heavy. It is still intellectual, but it is also light, lively, and emotional.
How it is produced
The vineyards are managed organically with copper and sulfur—no herbicides or pesticides. We are in the Collio Hills, where the soils have a marine origin and are made up of marl and sandstone.
The harvest takes place at the end of September; the bunches are destemmed and crushed, and the must ferments in oak vats thanks to the yeasts naturally present on the grapes.
The maceration lasts 20 days, then the wine ages for a year in large Slavonian oak barrels, a further year in steel, and another year in the bottle.
So much care, attention, and love for wine are rare, but trust me, the result is outstanding. Processing that, you may have noticed, is for red wine, so don’t expect a bland and pale Pinot Grigio in the Santa Margherita lemon juice-dishwasher style.
Organoleptic characteristics
You can see the color; it is of a heartbreaking beauty and will hypnotize you. The bouquet is spicy: an opulent and seductive triumph, the real face of Pinot Gris, a symphony of soft, resinous, balsamic, and floral scents.
It’s full of delicate vanilla that doesn’t come from the wood.
It caresses you with flowers and tropical fruits, endless aromatic herbs, dates, and raisins. It is a journey to the Orient, a dream from “A Thousand and One Nights”: incense and honey, eucalyptus and mint, and then this cold and sharp recall of candied citrus fruits.
But it’ll be chaos, you say, with all these perfumes thrown in!
Not at all!
Everything is done with finesse; the smells are placed with care and precision; the wood doesn’t add anything unpleasant; nothing is forced; everything is in the service of balance.
On the tongue, the wine is juicy, has a lively acidic and saline thrust, is shaped by tannins that are soft but clear, and is not shy.
And binding each part is a ruddy, joyful softness.
The beauty of this wine is not in its complexity as an end in itself, but in its ease of expression and spontaneity, which avoids the heaviness and awkwardness of many macerated wines, which have lost sight of being pleasant in order to offer “complexity” to everyone.
Service temperature
If you go below 14 degrees, the tannins will become arrogant and the aromas will be castrated. Allow it to warm slowly in the glass before tasting each nuance. You’ll notice it “evolve” in the glass. Stupendous.
Price
30 euros: It is one of the most underrated Italian wines in history. Buy 10 bottles and drink one a year, and it will amaze you with its incredible evolution.
Pairings
This macerated wine has body and savory momentum, so don’t worry, it won’t disappoint you with aged cheeses, duck, spicy Indian cuisine, or a classic cold cut with pecorino cheese and onion marmalade. Try it with veal with tuna sauce, spaghetti with clams, pumpkin tortelli alla Mantua, spaghetti carbonara, and pad thai.
