Step #16
Stage #16 of the Sommelier Wine Box (July 2019, led by the great Luisito Perazzo - best sommelier in Italy 2005 ) was dedicated to the wines of the sands .
The vine grown on sandy soils, in fact, represents a peculiarity of some wine-growing areas in Italy and abroad; this condition is not common, at least as regards the excellent wines produced in these territories. The importance that the " Terroir Viticole " reflects on the grapes and wines is now well declared: calcareous, clayey, marly, gravelly, pebbly, granitic, and obviously sandy are the most frequent types of soil in viticulture. Here are the most distinctive characteristics of sand wines. Richer, more colored and more compact soils provide more polyphenols to the grapes compared to white, calcareous or sandy soils, which instead generate more fragrant and elegant grapes with a good content of tartaric acidity in the case of calcareous ones and grapes which will give a marked fragrance with sustained but less powerful structure in the case of sandy soils . Another indication is provided by the limited ability to produce long-lived wines. Therefore floral and fruity aromas and long-lasting taste are the most distinguishable traits in wines produced on sandy soils . What we present this month is a selection of 6 wines representative of predominantly sandy soils distributed along the peninsula, which includes the north-west with Piedmont and specifically the Colli Tortonesi , the center with the sandy wine district par excellence, the DOC Bosco Eliceo in the Ferrara area and its grapes grown ungrafted, and finally, sunny Sicily with a "mixed" production of grapes with predominantly sandy vineyards and others with a percentage presence of this element. The hope is to appreciate all the quality expressed by these wines , without forgetting the specific character that a terroir of this type gives to the chosen grapes. So here are the wineries we discovered together: Claudio Mariotto , Baglio di Pianetto and Mariotti Vini .
