Birichino Buraribi Carignane/Grenache 2022

Buraribi assumes the mantle of the most shamelessly inhalable red wine in the Vast Birichino Empire. Several years ago, an old friend turned us on to Lezèr, a Teroldego-based wine produced by Elizabeta Foradori in Trentino who faced a difficult vintage in 2012 and experimented with alternate vinification methods [shorter, cooler fermentations in a variety of vessels] intended to highlight the charm of the variety. Light-bodied, highly aromatic, shimmeringly garnet colored, and entirely delicious, Lezèr motivated us to reconsider our use of the younger block of Grenache at Besson. The fruit from these vines, planted in the late 80s, has historically gone into our Vin Gris. Vinified as a lighter-bodied red wine, we still find the telltale Besson aroma- tized, botanical extract quality, though here wrapped in the gentle embrace of wild strawberries and, if truth be told, a drop-dead beautiful color. Intuiting that the 100 year-old Mon- tague Vineyard might respond in a similarly favorable fashion, a few rows normally dedicated to rosé joined the Monster Mash with an abbreviated fermentation and aging regime to empha- size the charm this vineyard so effortlessly reveals. The Besson and Montague fractions aged separately in old barrels, and were combined after a single rack immediately prior to bottling, as usual, without filtration.