Medium straw-gold color; grapefruit, lime, green apple, pear, apricot, banana, sage, crushed stone, salty minerality on the nose and palate.
Dry; no tannins, crisp acidity. Light body. 100% vermentino. Manual harvest, fermentation and sur lie contact for 15 days in stainless steel tanks. Matured three months in stainless steel. Bottle aged three months before release. The 2022 vintage in Tuscany was unusually hot with irregular rainfall, forcing careful canopy management and judicious use of micro-irrigation. Good rainfall as grapes matured in mid-August. The grapes for this effort were among the first to be harvested, enhancing acidity and minerality. The vineyard location near the Mediterranean Sea significantly affects the grapes, lending salinity and mineral notes. 13% ABV
Located 60 miles southwest of Florence, the Argentiera vineyard and winery is a special place at the southern tip of the Castagneto Carducci area, the heart of the Bolgheri DOC. The vineyards lie close to the shore, but have some of the highest elevations in the DOC. The vineyards are bathed in sunlight, swept by marine breezes, and offer views out over the Tyrrhenian Sea. The vermentino grows in the Poggio ai Ginerpri vineyard, closest of the four Tenuta Argentiera vineyards to the sea.
The name Argentiera comes from the traces of ancient silver mines dating back to the Etruscans (“argento” means “silver” in Italian; it is the same base word for the country of Argentina). The estate is owned by brothers Corrado and Marcello Fratini. Winemaking is under the direction of noted oenologists Stephane Derenoncourt and Nicolò Carrara. Management follows sustainable farming practices.
Tenuta Argentiera Eco di Mare Vermentino Toscana IGT 2022 while vermentino is the secret sauce of Provence rosé, it presents here as a pure varietal where its citrus, lime, grapefruit, green apple and saline-minerality work to make it a wonderful seafood wine. Touch of salinity and bitterness are classic for a quality coastal vermentino. $25
Pairing—as the wine’s name implies (“echo di mare” is Italian for “echo of the sea”), seafood is natural pairing, oysters, kingfish ceviche with lime and coriander, grilled sea bass, spaghetti alle vongole (spaghetti with clams), fried seafood, roasted white fish, scallops with herb butter. Pasta with fresh pesto, roasted vegetables with quality olive oil; caprese salad with tomatoes, mozzarella, basil; panzanella salad; Greek salad with feta. Lemon and herb roasted chicken; chicken Kiev; roasted quail. Spinach and ricotta ravioli, roasted zucchini with garlic and herb; vegetable cevishe. Cheese—fresh goat cheese, ricotta, stracchino and other spreadable cheese; young pecorino, semi-aged pecorino; fresh mozzarella, burrata. It also works as an aperitif.
Tenuta Argentiera website, excellent video
