2017 Villa Job 'Serious' Refosco

Region: Collio < Friuli < Italy

Grapes: Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso

Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Biodynamic farming; zero additions, not even SO2; from 15-year-old vines planted on a combination of marl, clay and silt soils; whole clusters are fermented in open barrels then aged in concrete vat and old mulberry barrels for approximately 12 months; unfined/unfiltered; 13% ABV

Winemaker: Alessandro Job

Alessandro didn’t grow up in wine, he found his way to it after working for years in Milan then taking over his grandfather’s estate in Friuli that had some vines amidst organic corn fields and lots of wild forest.  But his journey led him to the understanding that there is wine is both objective and subjective. He says: “Objective is the wine that all the people would like to drink. Subjective is a more personal wine, a personal trip. And so that is why during the last three years we decided to take out everything from the wine, because we understood after we read Steiner (the Biodynamic guru) and other philosophies about natural wine that what is very important is to understand exactly what we are looking for. Time and terroir for us are very important. So, time is to respect the season and to respect nature and what she can give to us. And time because we are not in a hurry to put all our wines in the bottle immediately just because the market needs it, because probably the wine is still not ready. And then we started to cut out everything so now we just make wine with simple juice. So, we're not correcting the acidity, we are not filtering the wine.”

Refosco is an ancient grape native to the Friuli region of Northern Italy, and the variety used here is the rare 'Peduncolo Rosso', meaning the stems are red.  'Serious' is the big brother to the light juicy Vino Rosso (also of Refosco) that we featured a few months ago, this one made from older vines and getting more time in barrel before bottling.   It's definitely a more serious wine, with power and grip balanced by juicy, wild blackberries, black plum, black pepper and a forest floor/green stem combo that speaks clearly of this unique grape and its place, the chilly, wet region of Friuli.  Chill for 30 min to let the fruit out and reign in the tannin, then serve with roasted meats, or cheese and charcuterie, as one would pair it with in the fairytale region of Friuli...