Collio Rosso della Castellada 2016

Collio Rosso della Castellada 2016 Natural/Organic Serious full bodied mature yet extremely ageworthy stunning red from Oslavia in Collio close to the Slovenian border. 85% merlot 15% cabernet sauvignon, the merlot in particular has a long history on the ponca (marl and sandstone) soils in Friuli producing deeply structured powerful reds that can mature beautifully for many years in the bottle. The vineyard sits at 180m and has a cooling influence from the Julian Alps which helps to preserve the acidity during the ripening process.

Grapes are hand harvested destemmed and crushed before indigenous yeast fermentation in old Slavonian oak vats for around 30 days. Post fermentation maturation is 1 year in new barriques followed by a further 3 years in large neutral oak barrels and then an extended period in the bottle prior to release. Minimal amounts of sulphur are used throughout the winemaking process. The wine itself has a brooding intense aroma, a combination of red and black fruit with a slight minty character to it. On the palate those fruits are equally intense with some dried fruit coming through, some fig, prune and a balsamic twist on the finish which is incredibly long. Quite simply a top class full bodied intense red with amazing complexity, which is drinking wonderfully now and will do for many years to come!

The Castellada winery was born in 1954 when Giuseppe Bensa returned home from Switzerland to his native Oslavia on the Friulian/Slovenian border and purchased a small piece of land upon which he planted vines and opened an 'Osteria' where he could sell the products from his farm.

Thirty years later in 1985 his children started bottling their few thousand bottles of wine at the estate rather than selling in bulk and 'La Castellada', (a name from derived from an Oslavian hillside) winery was born.

Since 2009, Giuseppe's grand children Matteo and Stefano have been running the 10 hectare estate and growing the reputation of the wines.  The vineyards were planted in two phases; about half are now over 60 years old and the rest about 30 years.  The complex marl and sandstone soils with a very stony top layer push roots deep in the strata making for more complex wines.  The free draining nature of the soils and natural processes in the vineyards give very limited yields of approximately 25-30 hectolitres per hectare, meaning concentrated grapes and intense wines.  The vines lie at approx 180 metres above sea level and are further influenced by the fresh breezes coming down from the Julian Alpes which moderate the very hot summer temperatures and keep the acidity in the grapes.

As with tradition in the area, most of the white wines undergo a period of skin maceration/fermentation with indigenous yeasts, the length of which varies depending on the variety.  They are then generally aged in a combination of old botti, tonneaux and barriques for two years and a further year in steel tank and bottle before release.   Only the Pinot Grigio made in the Rosato style and the Friulano undergo a significant skin maceration of two weeks.  The other white wines spend just 4 days on the skins adding texture and flavour but not too much tannin and rendering them very much full bodied white wines rather than orange wines.

I discovered these wines in a small Italian restaurant in Mallorca of all places.  The entire wine list was made up of incredible natural producers from Friuli and Piemonte including many of the greats like Radikon, Gravner, Princic and so on.  The Castellada stood out, slightly lesser known but classically styled skin contact wines with intensity, richness and good acidity.  If you like powerful white for hearty foods, these bottles are for you.