15 days maceration to allow the plum scents and the purple colour to seep from the skins. Lovely ripe berry flavours are to the fore but here half the wine undergoes ageing in large once used barriques. Harmony from the oak, rounding out the corners of the long skin contact, but also of the natural robust tannins of Refosco. A powerful wine that really engages from the offset, lots of flavours and surprises. Meats and strong cheeses match perfectly.

Ab-Fab-a-dab-fab. Sometimes you just get a bit giddy when new wines come in and you’ve so wanted to have them on your list. Friuliis the region of North Eastern Italy that borders on Slovenia and heads on out towards Croatia. It is home to the most scintillating mono-varietal wines in all of Italy. And if we exaggerate, well we exaggerate, if we contradict ourselves, we contradict ourselves, to misquote Walt Whitman. Lovely wines, they are not cheap because serious consideration is given to viticulture, yields and wine making. Which may be true of all our wineries, no, it is true, but there is a simplicity and focus here at Il Roncal. Nice folks too, and they have an agriturismo if you fancy but what is good is the blend of International Varieties and local indigenous grapes. Have a stab at them all, they are delicious. Excuse the details on stainless steel and oak and stuff, what it shows is a winery determined to the right thing by their grapes. Most are harvested late to give them a rounded richness that sings to you. Honestly.