I've always liked Foradori's reds but this is the first time I've seen a white from them, so obviously I had to try it. Manzoni Bianco is a cross between Riesling and Pinot Bianco. Fermented with skins in concrete and then aged in acacia. Pale yellow, ever so slightly hazy. The smell does not remind me of either Riesling or Pinot bianco. Instead it has these sweet, peachy aromas, quite clear acacia scents (this amount of oak would bother me but I guess acacia just isn't that annoying to me), plenty of wet earth savouriness. It's quite broad and soft on the palate initially, not terribly high in acidity nor really tannic at all despite being fermented with skins. But the finish is really clean and pure and refreshing and I hate to use the word but "mineral". This is really good. But I suspect it would ideally need a couple more years. Buy again? If I had a working storage system, I'd get one to age a few years. I don't however. So probably not.
Dard & Ribo Crozes-Hermitage 2016 [i]- Syrah; 12% abv; c.35€[/i]
These Dard & Ribos have become really expensive.
It's been years since I last bought any but I think the C-H has almost doubled in price. But the wine is as lovely as I remember it. This is a hard-core naturalist producer and the wine kind of smells like that. I say kind of because the clearest aromas are such as expected of the grape: black olives, game bird's blood, pepper. Delicious savoury aromas all but then there's that tiny edge of something exciting, primal, slightly weird on the edges - not dirty or bretty, however. I love that "natural" aroma but I know many here don't. That's ok, I'll happily destroy any bottles of this you might have lying around for you. Quite light body but I like that, especially since there is absolutely no lack of flavour. In fact, more body with this kind of intensity of flavour would probably just be too heavy. Good acidity, good tannin, ripe fruit (and mercifully low abv), very lively. Again, the palate does have that slight natural twist that will be off-putting to some. Not to me however. I love it. Buy again? Reluctantly yes. The only reluctance is that almost doubling in price. The wine is awesome.