La Biancara Pico Veneto 2022

La Biancara is the winery of Angiolino Maule, widely regarded as the father of Italian natural wine, who has worked in the Gambellara hills of the Veneto in northern Italy since 1988. The grape is Garganega, the great native white of the region, here pushed to its fullest expression. The volcanic basalt soils of the area give the wine minerality and structure, while the continental climate and Maule's organic, low-intervention farming keep the fruit honest and the acidity intact. This is an orange wine made with extended skin contact and aged twelve months in oak barrel. Skin contact extracts tannin, pigment and phenolics from the grape skins, building the amber colour and grip, while the long barrel ageing and slow oxygen exchange add oxidative, savoury complexity and a fuller texture. The wine is amber in the glass. The nose shows dried apricot, almond and orange peel over dried herbs, beeswax and honey. The palate is dry and structured, the nutty, oxidative fruit framed by firm tannin and a long, savoury finish. It is organic and made naturally. Serve at 12 to 14 degrees.