DeAleatico di Puglia, Francesco Candido

Italy – 2013

14.5% ABV

37.5cl

Tasting Note: A lush, high-powered Aleatico dessert wine that converts the Puglian sunshine into red-cherry, dried-raisin sweetness and emits an intoxicating floral perfume that hints at the grape's DNA links to Muscat. 

Food Matching: A very powerful wine, it stands up well to very mature, strongly flavoured cheeses, dry pastries, almond and chestnut paste, and roasted almonds.

Vineyard: The climate is Mediterranean with low rainfall, ranging between 300 and 700 mm annually. Ripening takes place slowly due to the striking contrast between day and night-time temperatures, resulting in a strong development of aromas, richness, and concentration. Soils are for the most part calcareous, though also clay, medium rich, and of various compositions (generally low in fertility). Mainly even countryside at elevations between 40 and 80 meters above sea level. Training system used is the Alberello Pugliese (low, densely planted bush-like vines without supporting wires) for local varieties, spur pruned wire frame training for international varieties. Vine density: Approx. 4,500 per hectare. 

Vinification: The crushed grapes are macerated at a controlled temperature. Fermentation is interrupted by repeated racking to remove the yeasts and the wine is subsequently matured in barrels.