- Giannoni Selections: Organic/Biodynamic Fine Wines

I Clivi Galea Rosso is made from 70-year-old, endangered merlot vines. Yes, endangered. For nearly a decade, winegrower Ferdinando Zanusso has jokingly threatened to uproot his four acres of merlot. And he is neither kidding nor laughing about their low yields.

I Clivi only made 100 cases of Galea Rosso in 2012. Yet Ferdinando can’t help but share his frustration over the merlot – with hidden pride. Then again, he doesn’t bother to conceal his preference for the varietal white wines that he makes from local friulano, malvasia, ribolla gialla, and verduzzo grapes.

Colli Orientali del Friuli is reputed for its white wines; its soils have been likened to Burgundy’s Côte D’Or which is high praise for any growing region. Based on this fact, it makes sense that i Clivi should give most of their attention to their white wines. And while most producers rush their reds to market when their wines’ astringency makes one wince, no such urgency has ever occurred to Ferdinando. He only releases Galea Rosso once he deems that it has hit its stride, when it can give pleasure to its imbiber.

Perhaps there’s something to be said for seeking out the lone red of a great white wine producer such as i Clivi. Given their trained apathy towards red wine, it means they only bother to produce Galea Rosso in good vintages and they still inevitably age each bottle in their winery rather than in your cellar (or closet).

Ferdinando admits, “It would be difficult to find a wine of this quality (at this price) from Bordeaux’s Right Bank, merlot’s native territory.” He nods, “È un signor vino.” Drink a bottle or two and you’ll find his words difficult to dispute. Look for an intricate, balanced palate that is redolent of black cherries, tobacco, leather, and spice. Pair with roasted or braised meats, salumi, Robiola Roccaverano – always my favorite – and pecorino, preferably Sardinian, aged 4-8 months.

*Note: I Clivi Galea Rosso starts to sing about an hour or two after uncorking and holds up a day, or two, or three after opening.

Thank you for voicing what has been unsaid for some time.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Oeso6gNKz1k&feature=share

Synopsis:

“Four Italian winegrowers live a life we all dream of: Giovanna Tiezzi and Stefano Borsa in their converted 11th century monastery and winery in Tuscany find a way to grow grains, fruits and wine that creates a link to their ancient Etruscan heritage ; Corrado Dottori and Valerio Bochi, refugees from industrial Milan in their grandfather’s farmstead in the magical Marches labour for a rural expression of social justice; ex-librarian Elena Pantaleoni working her father’s vineyards in Emilia, strives to make her estate a utopian reality; and then Stefano Bellotti, the Pasolini of Italian agriculture, a radical farmer poet, disrupts everyone’s rules from his avant garde farm in the Piedmont.But these protagonists of a rapidly spreading European natural wine revolution have encountered fierce resistance. Not everyone believes in their struggle for an ecologically progressive, economically just and historically rich expression of Italian agriculture. With the help of their delightfully eccentric film curator friend Gian Luca Farinelli, these very contemporary peasants use the power of fiction films to combat the institutional lies that make any act of freedom today an act of dangerous dissent.10 years after Mondovino, the wine world has changed just like the world itself. The enemy is now far greater than the threat of globalization. It’s everywhere and nowhere. It’s them. And us. But these natural wine rebels against the “New World Economic Order”, offer a model of charmed and joyous resistance. “Natural Resistance” mixes documentary and fiction in the hope of stirring the hidden rebel inside all of us.”