Inama Carmenere Piu 2017

Bio wine. Cellar for up to 6 years. Decant for 30 minutes prior to serving.
An interesting rarity coming from the Colli Berici in Italy’s Northeast corner, the Inama Carmenere Piu is a Carmenere-Merlot blend with a vivid ruby core and a lightly blue-purple rim. The nose is intense, complex, and pronounced, with black cherry, cocoa, pepper, violet, and smoke aromas. On the palate, the wine shows its broad shouldered but well-balanced character: dry with fresh acidity, firm but integrated tannins, and confirmation of the dark fruit scents, with a black pepper laced finish.

For a perfect pairing, this wine would be eaten with salumi local to the area it is from, namely sopressa with garlic or Val Liona DOP ham. However, a strongly flavored country style pate would also be delicious. This wine would also do well with a gamey stew or pasta dish, using boar, duck, or bison meat.

The name of this wine, Piu, means ‘more’ in Italian, and there’s definitely a lot ‘more’ to this wine than meets the eye. The Carmenere for this blend comes from vineyards dating back to the 1800’s, and the region they are planted in, the Colli Berici, is Italy’s oldest DOC for Bordeaux Varietals. A 70% Carmenere, 30% Merlot blend, this wine macerates for 12 days in stainless steel, after which the wine is racked and fermentation occurs in the same steel tanks. Following fermentation, the wine is aged in small French oak barriques for 12 months, giving it time to soften its rich and structured tannins.