«We had already foreseen it, and now we can confirm it: it will be really special, our Arneis 2020». This is how Sergio Marchisio celebrates the excellent harvest of the Marchisio Family, relative to the excellent white of Roero. A generous harvest, more abundant than last year. «The bunches are perfect, firm, and with an optimal bunch-must yield». By the way: «The must just obtained from pressing is greenish-yellow: a shade of color that announces its great freshness». And this is precisely the goal for which the Marchisio Family have worked, choosing with care the right moment to proceed with the harvest: «We want to obtain an Arneis in which to win is, in fact, the freshness, then with a low alcohol content (not exceeding 12.5-13 °), so as to make the Arneis even more drinkable».
The Roero Arneis of the Marchisio Family stands out for its distinct personality, its accentuated minerality and the explosive breadth of its fragrances: thanks to the natural management of the company (certified organic) and its loyalty to Rudolf Steiner’s biodynamic philosophy. A strategy that aims, year after year, to restore wealth to the wine thanks to the recovery of soil fertility. It’s possible to reach the maximum result – that is to say to let the vine express all its potential – in vintages like this historic 2020, which will be remembered for the quietest spring ever, due to the lockdown imposed by the coronavirus. «But beware: the climate was extraordinarily favorable», Sergio Marchisio recalls: «We had an exceptional spring and then a wonderful summer: except for a few hot days, with peaks above 30 degrees, the average temperature of the summer season remained around 28 degrees».
Ther’s also good fortune, baptizing the lucky wines: «We had a lot of sun and some rain at the right time: but it was always “good” rain, never violent». The threat of hail is completely absent: «I don’t know if we are simply kissed by luck – says Sergio – or if the “air cannons” installed between the vineyards are working; in any case, we didn’t run any danger. It’s a kind of tradition, now: in the span of 35 years, only a few grains of hail have fallen on our rows, a couple of times, and without ever making a disaster». This is very important for a company that annually produces up to 130,000 bottles of Arneis from about 15 hectares (the yield is around 100 quintals per hectare). A little more patience, then, and you’ll be able to taste the highly anticipated Arneis 2020, fresher and lighter than in previous years: yet another experiment, for an authentic experimenter like Sergio Marchisio, the first to make Arneis sparkling wine and the first to make Nebbiolo wine in amphora, in the sign of a return to the absolute genuineness of nature, left to express itself in purity.
