Catarratto 'Ambras' Barracco 2021

The Catarratto "Ambras" from the Francesca Barracco winery is a surprising wine, capable of combining the aromatic complexity typical of white wines macerated on the skins with a simple and slender drink: the ideal bottle to approach the exciting world of orange wine, able to thrill novices and captivate even the most experienced. With its Sicilian Mediterranean and sunny personality, not foreign to psychedelic and colorful arabesques of citrus and candied fruit, it embodies the essence of artisanal farming, focused on achieving a rich extraction of aromatic substances without resorting to tricks or additives.

Ambras is indeed produced in fewer than 5,000 bottles by Roberto Bruno, son of the owner of the farm, with a sensitivity aimed at safeguarding the environment, enhancing the fruits of the harvest, and respecting the consumer, who, in the producer's intentions, "must find in the glass the typical aromas and flavors of the grape variety and the territory, without encountering any unpleasant side effects." It is born from 45-year-old vines rooted in clay and limestone soil in Mazara del Vallo, in the province of Trapani, and cultivated organically since the 1990s. In the winery, Roberto carries out a skin maceration for 6 days and allows the must to ferment spontaneously in small steel tanks for 12-15 days. During vinification and the subsequent months of wine maturation in steel, only manual operations of racking and pumping over are allowed, without the aid of chemical substances and referring to the biodynamic calendar of Maria Thun. Sulfur is permitted, in minimal and negligible quantities, only during bottling, when a very light filtration is performed to eliminate natural residues.

"Ambras" by Francesca Barracco is born from the authentic synergy between the agronomist, the winemaker, the aromatic profile of the grape variety, and a territory blessed by the sun and sea breezes. The result is captivating: introduced to the eye by a brilliant orange hue, it expresses itself with immediacy and generosity in an olfactory spectrum that unleashes cornucopias of ripe fruit, baskets of oranges, mandarins, and candied peels, along with light hints of honey and delicate aromatic herbs. Despite this aromatic exuberance, the sip remains fluid and light, animated by a refreshing freshness and a pleasant Mediterranean and almost saline sapidity. A light and lively tannic texture closes the sip with mastery, making it dry and very gastronomic.