‘Il Mostro’ was conceived as a new experimental project from Poggio Anima. The Marchesani family has been farming this vineyard since the mid-1960s and following the marriage of Sebastano Jasci to Lucia Marchesani, the newly married couple embarked on a new frontier of higher quality farming. Sebastiano pushed for organic farming and became one of the first certified organic vineyards in Italy in 1978. Today their son Nicola has taken over the business side of things, and his wife Federica manages the winemaking. The names of the wines are derived from children’s bedtime warnings throughout Europe. This is a single-vineyard wine from the Monteodorisio Vineyard in Chieti, Abruzzo. ‘Longana’ is a mythological creature that calls the caves above the cliffs of the northern Adriatic Sea home. ‘Longana’ have limbs of a goat which aide in traversing the mountains of Alto Adige and the Veneto but are frequently spotted in the sea. They are stunningly beautiful creatures that have been known to woo humans with their highly evolved knowledge of nature. Note the 2023 vintage no longer carries the certified organic label due to the timing of new laws passed in the US, but nothing has changed on the viticultural or winemaking side. The farming practices remain certified organic even though the wine itself is no longer certified organic for this vintage.
The Montepulciano was hand-harvested in mid-September from three blocks on a northwest facing ridge at 700 feet in elevation. The majority of the grapes were cooled down at the winery and fermented at a cool 60ºF with the remaining grapes being whole-bunch pressed to tank and chilled very cold to prevent fermentation and held in tank. Primary fermentation occurred naturally in a sealed stainless-steel tank and when the wine reached 15 g/L residual sugar after about 15 days, the tank was cooled down in order to hold the ferment at 10 g/L. The wine was bottled and topped with more of the unfermented juice from tank and the bottles were crown sealed. Secondary fermentation occurred over the next 2-3 months and the wine was disgorged and topped up along with a small addition of sulfur helping to preserve freshness and ward off unwanted microbes.
