2022 Ranchelle Roccolina

WINEMAKER: Enrico Bachechi & Marco Giordano
REGION: Tuscany, IT
VARIETY: Procanico, Francesino, Riminese, Nocchianello, Verdello
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic

Roccolina is the offspring of a recently (2015) planted vineyard, situated in an area named Roccolina. Here the indigenous grape varieties of Procanico, Clairette (Francesino), Riminese (Duropersico), Nocchianello Bianco and Verdello produce the base for an assemblage of typical white varieties from Maremma, which aims to be a revival of the Bianco di Pitigliano from its glorious past. Grapes are harvested by hand separately, according to their ripeness. After de-stemming and around 3 days of skin contact fermentation, the must is lightly pressed and continues its natural course of fermentation without skins. Once fermentations are over the wines are blended and transferred into stainless steel container for about 5 months. Bottled in spring without any SO2. 4600 bottles made this year.

Ranchelle was established with the goal of conserving the region’s oenological heritage. It was founded by Christoph Fischer, a German expatriate who had been working in Florence as a digital archivist. In 2014 he took over a 60-year old vineyard that was one of the few still producing traditional varieties. Ranchelle was developed with the help of Enrico Bachechi, now a distributor or natural wines in Vienna, and Marco Giordano, who runs Podere Erica in the Chianti region.

In 2015 two hectares of the vineyard were planted with indigenous varieties, half white and half red, with another hectare planted a year later. Rootstocks were created using a massale selection from the vines of friends and neighbours such as Le Coste (Procanico), Dettori (Alicante) and Antonio Camillo (Ciliegiolo). As per tradition, most of the new vines were planted bush vine style.