Ciù Ciù Bacchus Rosso Piceno DOC 2021
Price: $20 ($24.48 with tax and delivery)
Channel: Le Sommelier
Producer: Ciù Ciù Tenimente Bortolomei
Country: Italy
Region: Le Marche
Appellation: Rosso Piceno DOC
Grapes: Sangiovese (50%), Montepulciano (50%)
Alcohol by Volume: 13.5%
Sugar Content: Unknown / drinks dry
I wrote about the 2021 Ciù Ciù Bacchus Rosso Piceno in my wine column at The Hub because it seemed like this wine arrived in Ontario at just the right time. It’s a ray of Adriatic sunshine to illuminate the soul as we face the fourth month of a Canadian winter. The grapes that make Bacchus are grown at 300 meters elevation, close to the sea in the foothills that surround the Tronto River valley before the land rises up into the Gran Sasso range of the Appenines, the highest mountains in Italy south of the Alps.
Rosso Piceno is always a blend of Sangiovese and Montepulciano, and in the case of the Ciù Ciù Bacchus it’s a 50:50 mix, which shows in this fruit forward wine that alternates between dark cherry from the former and blackberry from the latter. It’s all held together by the finest powder of grape tannin. This wine sees no wood, and is sleek and stainless steel clean, with lovely Mediterranean scrub seasoning of macchia (a.k.a. garrigue). Fresh and lively the Bacchus wants food; some kind of tomato meat sauce seems the most appropriate, or maybe lamb in hopes of spring to come.