2023 Tiberi Vini Artigianali Orange

REGION

Umbria, Italy – The "Green Heart," a land of rolling hills and ancient vineyards where they’ve been making wine forever, but only recently started selling it to anyone outside the village. This particular juice hails from high-altitude sites with rocky soil, giving it that mineral backbone.

VARIETAL

The Orange Wine you were probably hoping for. It's a blend of ancient indigenous white grapes—Grechetto, Trebbiano, and Verdello. The key is extended contact with the grape skins, which gives the wine its stunning color, unique structure, and incredible complexity.

NOSE

A nose that demands your attention, smelling faintly of a rustic pantry. You’ll find dried stone fruits (apricot, peach), a lovely, zesty citrus rind, and maybe even a hint of earl grey tea or honeyed spice. It’s complex, it’s earthy, and there's a slight, captivating funk; a flawless natural wine.

PALATE

This is where the three weeks of skin contact pay off. It delivers the weight and tactile grip of a red wine, with an assertive structure and polite but noticeable tannins. But it's still clean and fresh, with vibrant acidity and a savory finish. It defies the heavy reputation of some Orange Wines; it’s rustic but refined, savory, and compelling.

Definitely not for the easily bored.

WINEMAKING NOTES

Tiberi is a fourth-generation winery that is now run by Cesare Tiberi and his grandchildren, Federico and Beatrice. They are champions of the past, using methods linked to maximum respect for nature. This "Pistarello" is made with spontaneous fermentation and long skin maceration up to three weeks. It is bottled by hand, without filtration, fining, or sulfites. It is the purest expression of their ancient vines.

PISTARELLO MEANS

Loosely translates to "off-piste" or "rogue." A fitting descriptor for a wine that refuses to conform to conventional white winemaking.