Renegade Wine 'Araceli' - 2021 Pinot Grigio Ramato - Skin Contact Pink

Grapes grown in the Pfalz, Germany.

Hand harvested then shipped by Renegade in refrigerated trucks at 2˚C direct to the London winery.

Wine fully made in London, UK.

This is one of the most interesting and unusual wines we've made (so far!). She'll be divisive for sure.

It's Pinot Grigio but not as you know it. What is Pinot Grigio? It's the same as Pinot Gris and the same as grauburgunder. In English it should probably be called 'Grey Pine'. Essentially the grapes are a greyish, pinky, golden colour, hence the 'grey/gris/grau/grigio' and the bunches look like pine cones, hence the 'pinot, pinot, and pine'.

So, the 'Peeeno Greeeeeeegio' most people know is an easy drinking, Italian grown, Italian made, white wine. It is generally made by fermenting the pressed, clear juice of Italian grown grapes, generally in stainless steel. It is often extremely inoffensive.

Why is this wine, ‘Araceli’ a strange colour? Well we ferment it fully on the skins for 1 week, so the pinky golden skins colour the wine and make it go 'ramato' or 'copper' as the Italians call it. It's essentially a red wine but made from pink grapes (rather that red grapes). It is fermented using wild yeasts, present in the winery and on the skins of the grapes. We do not add yeast. We also do not add any finings or any other additives to the grapes, juice or wine. We do not filter it either so it may be slightly hazy. It spends a little time aging in new French oak, but it is mainly fermented and aged in a stainless steel tank.

So what is it like? Think of a skin contact/orange style of white wine but with more red wine style structure and palate weight. Or maybe think of a barrel aged rosé on steroids. It is a really complex, unusual wine that has notes of white pepper, cherry, vanilla, cloves, and a real wild strawberry-ness when it starts to open up. She's got a lightly tannic yet soft structure but is really well rounded and changes constantly as you drink her.

How should you drink her? This is something none of the Renegade team really agree on. Some of us like her chilled, so some of us drink her at 5 degrees, some at 8, some at 12 and some at 17. Our advice is probably get her slightly-chilled/chilled and see how she changes as she warms us!!

Who is Araceli? Araceli or Ara for short, is a woman. She is 36 and originally from Madrid but now lives in Shoreditch, that trendy part of East London. She's a Data Scientist and works in the media world. Yes, those are her real eyes, they are pretty incredible right!!