Enoteca Bisson 2023 Ciliegiolo, Portofino DOC

Item Number: 20531

UPC: None

Country: Italy
Region: Liguria
Sub Region: Liguria
Appellation/AVA: Portofino DOC
Estate Grown Wine: Yes
Vintage: 2023
Grape(s): 100% Ciliegiolo
Type: Wine - Red
Bottle Size: 750 ml
Pack: 12
Closure: Cork
Viticulture: Practicing Biodynamic

Pierluigi Lugano, in addition to producing classically saline white wines from a range of indigenous Ligurian varieties, crafts a brisk and delicious Ciliegiolo that sits at the mouthwatering midpoint between a full-bodied rosé and a very light red. Planted on steeply sloped parcels in the town of Campegli, Bisson’s Ciliegiolo is hand-harvested, and undergoes a brief three-day maceration in stainless steel during its fermentation, thereby lending it a beautiful deep-ruby hue and the barest hint of fresh tannins. It combines fruit redolent of tangy cherries and small red berries with a luscious but dynamic palate of marked limestone minerality.

Terroir Notes: Liguria produces scant quantities of wine that are dispensed of, in large part, by tourists who flock there to partake in the gorgeousness of its seaside towns. Among all of Italy’s viticulture regions, only the Valle d’Aosta produces less volume. Vines here cling to super steep limestone slopes and vie for space with the region’s ubiquitous olive trees (which outnumber grapevines five to one), artichokes, aromatic herbs, and wild mushrooms. They plunge deeply into rocky, impoverished soils, often on terraces (built by the Ligurian tribes in ancient times), aimed at the sun in worshipful fashion. These are vines that guzzle Mediterranean sunlight and bathe constantly in sea breezes, and the wines are easily among the most viscerally terroir-expressive white wines in all of Italy.

Pairing Notes: Fresh seafood, of course, but too often Mediterranean wine is typecast as a fish partner with severely limited range elsewhere. What the best Ligurian wines want so desperately, in fact, are green things—pesto, after all, is one of the region’s most widely beloved native dishes, and there are herbs growing everywhere which always find their way into the food. Fresh greens, sautéed greens, charred greens, heavily adorned greens; all will achieve synergistic nirvana with Bisson’s vivacious offering.

Featured in Punch.com as an "Essential Rosé for Right Now"
"It’s easy to be enchanted by the wines of Liguria. [Bisson winemaker] Pierluigi Lugano makes a dry and brilliantly red rosato from the indigenous variety Ciliegiolo. Is it a garnet-hued rosé? Or a very light red? Either way, it’s a perfect example of the fresh, food-friendly wines of the region, with wild berry flavors, firm minerality and a gentle little love-bite of tannin.”