Veneto, Italy

Farnea

Birbo 2020

£25

FARNEA
Birbo 2020
Veneto, Italy

Marco’s Birbo (the ‘rascal’) is a blend of Tocai, Malvasia, Marzemina and Pinella from old vines that spent ten days on skins before a short élevage in cuve. A wonderful shade of gold in the glass, it is fruit forward and fragrant, carrying a gentle spritz, plenty of citrus zest and just a hint of tannin. At just over ten degrees of alcohol, it has a tonic-like quality that makes it one of the few wines you could genuinely drink all day long.

Tocai, Malvasia, Marzemina, Pinella


ABOUT THE PRODUCER

Marco Buratti’s Farnea occupies a particularly beautiful part of the Colli Euganei National Park.

The land here has been planted with grapes since the eighteenth century, when the vignaioli of old were drawn to the area’s volcanic soils. Marco began with around one and half hectares of vines and three hectares of woodland in the hills above his cottage and has since acquired a further hectare of vines in nearby Bettone, where he also keeps pigs, chickens and sheep, eking out a simple life on the land.

Marco’s vines are worked by hand without the use of chemicals, a way of working he had decided on before beginning in 2003. The cantina consists of a small room at the edge of Marco’s house strewn with various vessels and simple winemaking tools. Along with healthy grapes, these are all Marco uses to make his wines, and there is nothing added at any stage.

Brimming with energy, Marco’s are amongst the most vibrant wines we have found in Italy and once opened, a bottle does not last long.