Wine made from the Roscetto Grape, by Falesco

Recently myself, Marcus Guiliano, and Chris Rowley, Wine and Beer Guide at Aroma Thyme Bistro, where invited to a wine lunch. The occasion, Wine Maker and Owner of Falesco from Umbria Italy was in town. Riccardo Cotarella, known in Italy as the master of Merlot for his rich, juicy, complex single vineyard Montiano merlot, has come up with a new passion.
The Line-up included Est!Est!Est! A white blend Trebbiano, Malvasia and Roscetto. His well known Vitiano White, Rose and Red. The wines just kept coming it seemed like. The single varietal red line-up included Pesona Merlot, Sangiovese and two Montiano's, 2001 & 2003. The 2001 Montiano has been a flagship half bottle for the Aroma Thyme Bistro for a while now. It was great to taste both side by side. Our favorite is still the 2001. But time may change that, as it does with wines. Since there was not much more of the 2001 in stock with the distributor I hurried and purchased enough for the year. And I was right, by the end of the meal the other restaurateurs and wine shop owners felt just as I did. Also showed where the Marciliano a blend of Cabernet and Cab Franc, A nice powerhouse red. Of course thier was a dessert wine from this award winning vineyard. Pomele which is made from 100% Aleatico, a new grape for Chris and I. But the show stopper was Ferentano Bianco made from 100 % Roscetto. "My passion now is for Ferentano, a white wine. I know, this is not what people in America expect of me," he says with a twinkle in his eye.You pour Ferentano into your glass. It has the look of a dense, solid white wine. Immediately you think of Meursault or an intense California Chardonnay.You swirl and sniff and first impressions are heavily reinforced by a massive honey note accompanied by hints of apricot and berries and perhaps figs.You taste and find a finely balanced, yet quite enormous wine, with that long honeyed edge to the palate that I, at least, associate with white Burgundy, especially Meursault, and some of California's finest Chardonnays. But this is no Chardonnay, the flavors of apricot and pineapple are alloyed with the honey along with some nuttiness and an earthier flavor that I can't quite nail down. The flavors go on and on, as with great Chardonnay, and the depth and the tannic structure are balanced by a fine level of acidity.Wow.Now very much interested you learn that Ferentano is named for the ruined city of Ferentum,originally Etruscan, then Roman. The birthplace of the Emperor Otho (one of the short reignEmperors following Nero in AD69), and later an ecclesiastical center of some importance until the eleventh century when it was destroyed in some long forgotten war over christian heresies.The name, interestingly enough, harks back to the Indo-European root "bher" -- to bear or carry, and the placename thus meant "fruitful" or the "fertile place of fruit."Which, as you sip this wine, seems just perfect.The varietal is the next surprise. Not Chardonnay, not at all. This is from the virtually unheard of Roscetto grape, which Signore Cotarella believes is of the Greco family. Roscetto is a minor component, perhaps 10% of the famous, fragile Italian white wine "Est! Est! Est!" which, it so happens was Signore Cotarella's first breakthrough wine. His long fascination with this varietal began back then.However, the Roscetto is problematical. When fully ripe the skins are thick and pink, and in a normal crush they will release bitter tannins, which will not go away and will not be pleasant in a white wine. Cotarella's answer was some modern technology. By producing a "thermic shock" by dousing the grapes with freezing carbon dioxide, he chills them in a matter of seconds, cracking the skins open, releasing the juice, without using pressure and extracting those tannins from the skins. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel and barrique, and the young wine is aged for a few months in two-year-old oak."This wine it continues to improve for maybe two days after it is poured," says Riccardo Cotarella. "Now, with "Est!Est!Est!" if we pour it and leave it for just an hour it is gone. But this wine will change and evolve in the glass for many hours."Which, over the course of lunch, it does, and even two hours later it remains lively with the fig and honey note now completely dominant.
Astonishing.Then there's the price. Retail around $20. Compare with California's best, or anything fromMeursault. You get the picture.Chris Rowley
Wine and Beer Guide
Aroma Thyme Bistro
165 Canal St
Ellenville NY 12428