NV TerraQuilia SanRose Zero Rosato dell’Emilia

Region: Emilia-Romagna < Italy

Grapes: Sangiovese

Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Certified organic farming; limestone/clay soils; short maceration on skin in steel tanks, spontaneous fermentation without temperature control, re-fermented in bottle with ancestral method aging on yeasts for 15 months and disgorgement after this; no added So2; zero-zero; 11% ABV

Winemaker: Romano Mattioli

Located in the Apennines mountains between Modena and Bologna, the Terraquilia estate has always practiced organic farming and natural winemaking, way before it was a thing.  It’s just the way it was always done in Romano Mattioli’s family. You find this a lot in Italy - organic/low intervention was the old way, before all the modern crap was introduced, and many never deviated from these traditions.   As a result, his wines are not the cloyingly sweet, mass-produced, carbon dioxide-injected wines so often found in the somewhat industrial region of Emilia Romagna. These are real wines that are dry, complex and reflect the place where they were made.

All of Terraquilia’s wines are made using the Methodo Ancestrale, which is one of the oldest methods for producing sparkling wine. The primary fermentation is stopped before it is completed by cooling the wine down while still in tank. The wine is then bottled, corked, and brought back to cellar temperature, and the fermentation continues without the addition of sugar or yeast. Once the bottle is corked, the carbon dioxide created by the fermenting yeast is trapped, and, voila, a sparkling wine is created. Fermentation ends when the yeast cells deplete the natural supply of sugar, and the dead yeast cells (lees) leftover create a sediment (called fondo in Italian).

Pretty and peachy-pink in the glass, this one is disgorged (spent lees removed) so it is clear, not hazy.  Which also spruces it up a bit, so that it drinks like a more traditional sparkling wine (meaning you can share with your mama).  Lively and energetic, with white flowers, grapefruit and a little sweet-tart something (rosehips?  rhubarb?), this is Spring in a glass.  And oh, wait, Mother's Day is coming up, might we suggest starting mom off on her natural wine journey with the pretty SanRose bubbly?