Wine with Vasily Raskov

Unearthing strange, unknown grape varieties is an exciting and risky activity. Who has heard anything about Timorasso, Teroldego, Vitovska, Pecorino or Pignolo? In Italy there is a lot of such goodness, but only a few random specimens reach us. You can come across simulacra, inexpressive and crude, or you can find your Troy and become the biggest wine archaeologist among your friends. Pignacolusse from Silvio Yermana, according to all radiocarbon and organoleptic analysis data, is a valuable find.

Silvio Yerman, unfortunately, is not a master of labels - some cones, clouds, dancing French bulldogs, and the naming causes more irritation than sympathy with its clumsy creativity based on family stories. In Pignacolusse, fortunately, neither the names of children nor the lines of favorite songs are encrypted - only the name of the variety (Pignolo) and the name of an individual vineyard (Colusse). Total 5 hectares, 8,000 bottles per year. Pignolo is a local variety that is not found outside of Friuli. The variety is complex, unproductive and terribly tannic, so it is not even clear how it survived the previous industrial era. A group of winemakers, along with Silvio Jerman, whose instincts cannot be denied, saw the potential for greatness in all this. Planting on the sunniest slope, bringing the grapes to maximum ripeness, Burgundy technology, gentle vinification and long aging in oak - all this somehow led to the creation of a classic Bordeaux-style, absolutely dry, austere, powerful, rich wine. 2-2.5 years in a barrel plus 1-1.5 years in a bottle is the minimum period for cutting this diamond.

Pignacolusse 2005 is an almost schizophrenic wine. In terms of the nobility of oak notes and eucalyptus-mint freshness, it is reminiscent of a good Saint-Emilion, and in terms of the concentration of aromas - red plums, raspberries, cherries, leather, coffee, cream, spices - the best dry Portugal, made from the same grapes that were intended for vintage port. You just get lost when you come across a wine with such an original character. It is like an intellectual who brilliantly speaks four European languages, is well versed in postmodern philosophy, English poetry of the 16th century and the avant-garde of the 1920s, while laughing loudly and wildly and eating an apple with a core. It is advisable to decant, glass - large Bordeaux, meat with spices, aged cheeses.

Jermann Pignacolusse 2005