‘Gabriel’

Pecorino is a very old grape but was only recently rediscovered and used for monovarietal wines. Named for the ancient tradition of herding sheep (Pecora is the Italian word for sheep), the Pecorino grape is one of the first to ripen and sheep are attracted to the fruit. Less than one mile from the cliffs descending into the Adriatic Sea sits an organically farmed vineyard perched on a steep slope planted with Montepulciano and Pecorino. This is the origin of this wine. 2019 was a vintage that just kept on repeating itself, intense heat, cool, repeat…add rain…repeat…finally in early/mid-September a welcome dry, warm but cool night, spell set in and the quality of the fruit was very, very high. The Pecorino was hand-harvested in early mid-September with a very high concentration of sugar, but also natural acidity.

The pecorino is hand-harvested and destemmed with a gentle bladder press to tank. A small percentage of the skins were preserved and tossed back atop the juice and allowed to macerate for seven hours prior to being drained off. Fermentation occurred naturally and after four weeks in tank the wine is racked off of the gross lees and rests for another six months prior to bottling.