Signoraginni "Grace" Rosé, Tuscany, Italy 2022

FROM SELECTIONATUREL

THE WINE: Named after Grace Jones, top model and famous pop singer from the 90’s. They have the same extravagant and outgoing personality. 100% Merlot from 15 year old vines on clay, sand and silt. Direct press, spontaneous fermentation. Aged in fiberglass. No filtering or fining and minimal added sulfur as necessary. 1160 bottle production.

THE PRODUCER: We first met Giorgia Salierno a few years ago. She was diligently pruning vines on a late winter's day in the vineyards of Conestabile della Staffa alongside Danilo Marcucci. Bright eyed and full of energy, her diminutive stature a direct contradiction to her oversized passion for the work at hand. Danilo was excited to have this young woman as his apprentice and was already telling me how diligent she was and dedicated to the life of a true natural wine farmer. Giorgia hadn't made any wine of her own at that point, rather she was putting in her dues at the "School of Marcucci" and absorbing all she could before embarking on her own winemaking project.

2021 saw Giorgia rent a small vineyard in Cortona, just over the Tuscan border where her family is from. Some old Sangiovese, Malvasia and Trebbiano vines greeted her but they needed much work and rehabilitation to produce proper wines...she got to work.

As harvest drew closer Giorgia began to imagine and interpret her first vintage of wines. A trio consisting of a classic skin-contact Tuscan bianco along with two 100% Sangiovese cuvees, one with a very brief maceration and the other with a classic, long skin contact during the primary fermentation.

Giorgia's background is in the fashion world. She studied, lived and worked on the runways of Milan for several years before returning to Umbria and Tuscany a bit diluted with the fashion industry and lifestyle. She wanted something more fulfilling and self-made and was enamored with the blossoming natural wine world in Perugia and Umbria.

Signoraginni is Giorgia's vision and a dedication to the new generation of women in the wine world (still relatively rare in Italy though that's changing quickly!) "In Donna Veritas'' (in women there is truth) is her motto and it guides her on the winemaking and farming journey. Each cuvee is named after a woman of significance to Giorgia and in the fashion world. The Labels are a nod to her fashion designing past.