2020 - 75% Merlot/25% Pignolo Give it some time decanting, makes all the difference while it’s still so young. Regardless, great aromas of blackberry, balsamic, and forest floor that pours out a luscious deep oxblood. A fuller bodied dry palate with great grippy tannins that soften just right while opening up. There’s great tobacco, cedar, cherry and currant thru n thru with a nice minerality. The vines are planted on ponca, a compressed, flaky clay of marl and sandstone that is typical in this part of Friuli. They grow on a south-facing slope right by the winery; average around 30 years old; yield about 45 hl/ha; and are farmed organically and harvested by hand like all Radikon vineyards. The grapes are destemmed and spontaneously co-fermented in 25-hectoliter oak vats without the addition of yeasts, sulfur or temperature control. Maceration is about two weeks with punchdowns 3-4 times per day initially. The wine is aged in vat for two years and bottled without fining or filtering.