Fattoria Mancini Roncaglia Colli Pesaresi 2024
Zesty, juicy wine from a grape thought to be related to Albarino, gently floral in the mouth, with melon and hazelnut flavours.
Roncaglia is a small village on Italy's Adriatic coast. The surrounding hills have always been considered extremely suitable for the cultivation of the local grape variety Albanella. Both the Albanella and the Pinot Noir vines occupy silty, sandy limestone soils 1.5km from the coast. The grapes were hand harvested into 15kg baskets and immediately cooled before transport to the winery.
The grapes were whole-bunch pressed at 9ºC and the juice cold settled for twenty-four hours before fermentation at a maximum of 18ºC. The wine spent four months in tank on lees; malolactic fermentation was blocked.
The Mancini family have made wine in the Marche for five generations, and current owner Luigi Mancini's fascination is with more unusual grape varieties - either the Pinot Noir brought to this particular part of the northern Marche by the French two hundred years ago, or local treasures like Ancellotta and Albanella. In clay-limestone soil, with temperatures moderated by the Adriatic, these varieties thrive alongside the more mainstream Sangiovese and Montepulciano.
