Wine of the week: a mouth-wateringly wicked rare red wine

2020 Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso, Azienda Agricola Visintini, Friuli, Italy

£19.50, reduced to £17.50 each by the case, leaandsandeman.co.uk

I can’t remember when I first started buying the wines from Visintini. However, I know that it was the Pinot Grigio Ramato that first caught my eye. Ramato means “copper” in Italian, which refers to the faint coppery colour that some pinot grigios pick up from their skins during winemaking. Visintini’s is exceptional because it is not a rosé nor a true white wine, but somewhere in between. The 2022 Pinot Grigio Ramato Visintini (£17.95, reduced to £16.50 each by the case) is about as classic an example of this style as I have ever tasted, and I highly recommend you taste this wine.

But as I finished the Visintini line-up, I had one more wine to taste – an unusually rare red wine made from the refosco grape. With masses of deep purple colour, a bright, fresh-picked berry nose, and a slippery, juicy, funsoaked palate, this is a fabulous wine with so much joy and energy that it is incredible. While the fruit is seemingly as bright and energetic as the most demonstrative of Beaujolais, another character in this wine engages the taste buds and kicks the brain into a different gear. The natural acidity in this wickedly delicious red wine is electric. A hint of oak here adds complexity, but the class and breeding come from the lightning strike of acidity on the finish. To say it’s mouth-watering doesn’t come close, and if you chill this wine down a few degrees, it further ratchets up the drama.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year (MatthewJukes.com).