XVII

The Cellar

Fermentation, aging, and the refusal to intervene.

Open fermentation vat, cap of skins being punched down

FERMENTATION / RIBOLLA GIALLA / 2023 / DAY 14

Native yeast. No temperature control. No additions.

Fermentation begins when it begins. In cold years, this is October. In warm years, September. We do not heat the cellar. We do not cool it. The wine makes itself. We watch.

Barrels stacked two high, hoops green with verdigris

BARREL ROOM / 2023 / 142 BARRELS / AVERAGE AGE: 34 YEARS

Aging is not improvement. It is transformation.

The wines remain in barrel for eighteen to thirty-six months. We do not rack. We do not filter. The lees settle. The wine clarifies by gravity and time. Bottling happens in February, during the waning moon. This is not superstition. It is the schedule that works.

Bottles in cases stacked in a narrow corridor, labels facing away

BOTTLE AGING / 2019–2023 VINTAGES / RELEASED: 2024–2027

A bottle lying on its side in a rack, dust thick on the shoulder

Ribolla Gialla

Vigna Alta / 2020 / 1,200 bottles / 12.5% ABV

The first wine Aldo made, and the last Elena released. It smells of the cellar it was raised in: limestone, old wood, the faint sulfur of natural fermentation. The palate is saline, not fruity. It is not a wine for tasting. It is a wine for drinking with food, over time.

Friulano

Vigna Bassa / 2021 / 1,800 bottles / 13.0% ABV

The broadest of the four wines. The clay in Vigna Bassa gives it weight. It is the wine we drink ourselves, at lunch, from the same tumblers we use for barrel samples. It does not travel well. We do not ship it to America.

A tumbler of pale gold wine on a wooden barrel

Pinot Grigio

Vigna Bassa / 2022 / 900 bottles / 12.8% ABV

Allocated entirely before bottling. The list is closed. We do not maintain a waiting list for this wine. To ask is to misunderstand how we work.

No plate. The wine does not wait to be photographed.

A bottle upright in a cellar window, light falling through pale liquid

Schioppettino

Vigna Vecchia / 2019 / 600 bottles / 13.2% ABV

Made only in years when the old vines produce enough fruit. The 2019 vintage was the first since 2012. The wine is light in color, heavy in tannin. It needs a decade. We will not release it before 2029. The 600 bottles are in the cellar, waiting.

Time is one of the ingredients.

Some bottles remain in the cellar longer than expected. We have learned not to argue with that.