2015 Bruno De Conciliis Bacio il Cielo Rosso IGT Paestum

Region: Paestrum < Campania < Italy
Grapes: Aglianico
Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Certified organic, biodynamic practices; Limestone and calcareous clay soils; fermented and aged in stainless steel for 6 months; bottled unfined/unfiltered with minimal SO2; 13% ABV
Winemaker: Bruno De Conciliis

From the relatively uncharted Cilento Coast in Campania (south of Amalfi Coast, on the border of Basilicata), Bruno De Concillis farms a handful of high-altitude vineyards overlooking the Mediterranean.  The estate was founded by his father in 1996, after Bruno convinced him to abandon chicken farming for grape growing. Bruno then left Milan, and his career as an architect, to return to his hometown and make wine. He’s a pioneer in many respects –  an organic winemaker in a place where chemically-based farming has been the status quo since the war. In fact, he’s credited with bringing organic and biodynamic farming practices to this wild and woodsy corner of Italy. But what we find especially remarkable are his fair-trade ethics in one of Italy’s most depressed areas – his employs workers from the community and pays them a fair wage (instead of underpaid migrants, as is common) and offer them year-round employment (in an industry that usually sends workers home after the grape harvest). The Baciocielo is Bruno’s vino di tavola, the light, fresh table wine you want with your Tuesday night pasta. The name means “kiss the sky”, a reference to one of Bruno’s favorite Jimi Hendrix songs. You see, Bruno loves jazz, and names his wines after his favorite songs – he even plays jazz in the cellars to keep his wines happy. This is your summer BBQ wine – a bit smoky and flinty, with Marasca cherry and brambly black fruit, equally at home in a red solo cup as in your best Reidel. Easy like summer.