Pico La Biancara Maule Masieri ORANGE WINE 2019

Pico Masieri Maule Garganega Skin Contact White, no added sulphites, natural white with short skin maceration: textured, aromatic and refined. Angiolino Maule doesn’t really believe in ‘orange wines’, but by using limited skin contact and a bit of know-how, he produces deliciously textured whites, with aromas of wild herbs, honey, a touch of smoke, but underlined with freshness and approach-ability. The Pico is extremely elegant, made with carefully selected Garganega grapes in the Gambellara hills, left on the skins for 4-5 days, and then matured in large old barrels before being bottled without fining or filtration. It’s a great entry into skin contact whites – refreshing and precise, with bags of minerality. Try it with a creamy pasta dish made with porcini mushrooms, or a big bowl of Paella.

Angiolino Maule is one of the founding figures of natural winemaking in Italy, and has been leading the way from his farm in Gambellara since the 1980s.

His two sons, Francesco and Alessandro are now helping out and continuing the tradition. The estate has 9 hectares of vines on south-facing volcanic soil slopes, growing a varietyt of grapes including Garganega, and Merlot. The health of the vineyard is maintained by using only naturally produced plant compost which they produce themselves, herbal remedies to control disease, and maintaining the soil's natural balance by sowing cereals or legumes. The non-interventionist approach is continued into the cellar, and they eliminate any artificial products such as selected yeasts or enzymes, favouring only natural yeasts. The wines are unfiltered and the absolute bare minimum of sulphur dioxide is used right at bottling. For some of the wines, sulphur dioxide has been eliminated completely. These are delicious, pure, characterful wines full of Italian character.