“Our Arneis wants to show the freshness and crispiness of this variety,” Giovanna says. “It has unique herbaceous aromatics (sage, thyme, rosemary) with white flowers (orange blossoms) and is pure, fresh, and vertical with good acidity and a long finish.”
Giovanna explained that Arneis went through some troubled times a few decades ago and got a bad rap. When bubbles in white wine became interesting, many growers in the Langhe planted Arneis in unfavorable locations: bottom of hills, north faces—essentially where other grapes wouldn’t ripen either. Whatever made it past the frost season had to contend with mildew feasting on the vine’s chlorophyll and then tainting the tight, fat-berried Arneis clusters. The grapes were picked when green or yellow, perfect for zippy, minerally white wine, no? Not with Arneis. It reaches its highest level when golden, otherwise it remains neutral, boring and austere.
These days, respect has returned to this grape and it’s time for it to reach its potential. Changes in approach, like keeping the vines above 250m to stave off frost, and better expositions with fewer facing directly north but rather more toward southerly exposures, or due east or west, or slightly tilted toward the north, like Brandini’s parcel in Canale facing northeast that’s fully exposed to the sun at an altitude of 350m. Here, the wind contact with the grapes, the early morning sun and good canopy management keeps mildew at bay while the Bagnascos wait patiently for the grapes to go golden—a difficult discipline for a family driven by high acid wines.
Calcareous sandy soils are also part of the Arneis matrix of high quality and expected lift for a variety that struggles in heavy soils or when overplayed in the cellar with too much hand in the wine—inert vessels, like stainless steel, serve Arneis well. At Brandini, the golden Arneis berries are whole cluster pressed and naturally ferment between 12-18C (lower temps at the beginning and end, with the highest in the middle of the one-week fermentation); the lowering of temperature (rather than thumping the wine with sulfites) prohibits malolactic fermentation. Stirred a few times during aging to bring a little more texture to the body and highlight the floral elements, the wine is fined and filtered prior to bottling.
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