'Arcaica' Paolo Francesconi 2023

L’Arcaica by Paolo Francesconi is a complex, flavorful, and articulated white wine that expresses, starting from its name-attribute, the most integral, deep, and traditional side of the grape. An "archaeological recovery" carried out by an artisan winemaker through organic farming inspired by biodynamic principles, spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts, and skin maceration for almost 3 months. It is produced in small quantities each year but has managed, since its first commercial release in 2010, to establish itself as one of the most memorable expressions of dry white wine macerated on the skins and produced with artisanal methods.

L’Arcaica is the result of the work of Paolo Francesco, a winemaker with a few hectares of vineyard located on the first hills of Faenza, consisting of clay and loamy soils, where the Lamone River once flowed. The grapes harvested here are pressed in the cellar, and the must is left to ferment spontaneously with indigenous yeasts and subjected to skin maceration for about 90 days. All the winemaking operations take place in steel tanks, before being subjected to a very light filtration and then bottled.

In the white wine Arcaica, the impetuous and warm personality of the grape seems to also encompass an oriental and Byzantine spiciness, in an ancient charm that unites the veining of the Ravenna mosaics with the colors of the sea and the pine forest. It presents itself in a golden yellow color, with coppery hues that quickly tend to amber. The olfactory profile features, prominently, a succession of citrus fruits, exotic yellow fruit, raisins, and aromatic herbs, to which a patient, slow, and delicate theory of balsamic herbs, licorice, dried flowers, anise, and light oriental spices follows. The sip is juicy and very fresh, with an energetic citrus push and an almost saline sapidity, with subtle and pleasant tannins in the finish, due to the maceration of the thick skins of the grape variety. The most authentic and archaic soul of the Albana presents itself like this, without frills or convolutions, in a tasting experience endowed with backbone and solidity, revealing also a strong gastronomic vocation that allows it to pair wonderfully with both flavorful fish dishes and cold cuts or white meats.