In Veronese Gardesano territory, between the Lake and the Adige Valley, Matilde Poggi wanted to make a great pink wine. Now he does and has named it Track of Pink.
Le Fraghe di Matilde Poggi is a winery-sized winemaker. Total hectares 33 divided among three municipalities (Cavaion, Affi and Rivoli Veronese), all positioned around the winery. Founded in 1984 by Matilde herself, vines here have always had benefited from the mitigating action of the Garda and Adige Valley winds. Excursion term, good rainfall, soil drainage and ventilation. Here are the secrets to making a good organic wine grape; and at Le Fraghe the prerequisites are all there.
In a context like this, where the Corvina yearning to be turned into pink, in 2019 Matilde decided it was time to produce a great pink wine. How it should be was quickly said: delicious right away, capable of maturing over time and of such character that it would leave its mark. Flanked by Federico Giotto and his Wine Listeners-a team of professional wine and agronomic consultants who believe in and pursue listening to the producer, his grapes and his vineyards- gives birth to Traccia di Rosa.
Stylistics, territory
Making a pink wine is really difficult; personally, it is the first type I tried my hand at as a young winemaker, and never, as with a pink wine, have I experienced what it means to have timing and forethought. Mine were pink bloodletting wines, because before the rosé revolution plate 2014, the pink wines of Lake Garda were made this way.
The style today has changed, hand in hand with the growth of the awareness both in oenology and in viticulture. Technique and mastery of it today lead us back to a “provençal” style, with pink wines drained of color and focused on crisp, vertical sensations and freshness. Only sometimes, and at the behest of producers and winemakers, do we encounter more territorial expressions.
What does the Garda territory to its wines I think can be simplified with one word: sapidity. A unique savoriness from the lake, which starts at the tip of the tongue and goes all the way to the bottom of the palate while always staying in the center. Vertical, persistent and probably also among those directly responsible for the inherent longevity of these wines.
Longevity
The concept of longevity is yet another misunderstood and perhaps misused concept in the world of wine. It is not to be taken for granted, intrinsic certainly but not to be conveyed and protected. In the vertical of Le Fraghe’s Bardolino Ròdon Chiaretto and Traccia di Rosa, one consideration flashed through my mind.
I thought that in the course of aging wines should always lose something; the primaries in favor of the tertiaries. I am sure you have been taught that as well. But the other day in my head I definitely rewrote the concept of longevity. As something that adds rather than takes away. Ridicule of riddles, I realized this precisely on pink wines, they who by definition lose something right away, their skins for example.
An evolution, therefore, that of Matilde’s wines that is growing and not depleting. Which gives rather than takes away. That transforms and gives back.
Rose track, dark bottles, screw cap. It is the outline of a new course
For all intents and purposes it is a Bardolino Chiaretto DOC wine. Homage to the land and to a type that is too often undervalued. Mainly from Corvina grapes, the indigenous queen of the Verona area. It contributes a small percentage of the Rondinella, as discipline dictates. From single plot, this wine vinifies by indigenous yeasts and rests in cement, a gentle material where it matures more or less slowly. It is never filtered but only cleaned and decanted before entering the bottle. Cap? Screw, of course. Sulfur dioxide qb and at the right times; which for the record excludes maceration. In contact with the skins, the real ally is cold; sulfur dioxide would affect too much of the release by the skins of color and tannins. The color is soft pink, elegant, vibrant. The taste is typically savory and long. Not to be overlooked is its aptitude for table pairings.
Rosa’s track is “territory made liquid” he says of Matilda. A compass rose between delicacy and thickness. A elegant strength that wants to tell about a territory where grapes are only one of the elements that contribute to the final result.
I really enjoyed it tasted at the winery, but even more so blind the next day at the Consortium during my tastings for Doctorwine, where it stood out.
The Giotto Wine Listeners’ Approach
Of Matilde Poggi’s 40 harvests, as many as 20 took place with Wine Listeners at her side. A counseling center, based in Follina (TV) but structured to work all over the world, that goes beyond designing wine in the winery. In fact, it starts from listening to the producer himself. This is followed by consulting in the vineyard and in the winery with each step followed by a dedicated but synergistic professional figure. During the tasting of Le Fraghe wines significant was the intervention of Giotto, who was present at the event.
With the knowledge behind the little interventionism, making wines to “touch as little as possible” is entirely feasible, the words of Federico Giotto, winemaker and founder of Giotto Wine Listeners.
Track of Rose was a path therefore of listening and knowledge, undoubtedly destined to go on in time and mark a real furrow in the popularity of Italian pink wines.
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