Harvest Date: Hand harvested between mid September and mid October.
Aging: 7 months in stainless steel tanks and 4 months in the bottle.
Tasting Notes: This is a surprising, elegant and powerful red wine. One of a kind. Beautiful floral bouquet reminiscent of rose and violet. The taste is very complex, with immediate hints of cherry and strawberry, followed by a spicy feel with pepper and paprika and a licorice aftertaste on the finish. The tannins are soft and perfectly integrated. A wine that shows its best 2-3 years after bottling.
Vineyard Notes: Soil: mostly Tufa, Clay and Calcareous. The vines have an average age of 15 years. The vineyards have a south-South/East exposure at an altitude of 220 meters above sea level.
Production Notes: In order to preserve its freshness the wine doesn’t see any oak. It is refined for 7 months in stainless steel tanks and 4 months in the bottle before release. Just 7,000 bottles per year produced.
Winemaker Notes: Ruchè is a semi-aromatic black grape variety native to Castagnole Monferrato. There are no other vines in the world than have the same floral and spicy notes, typical of this grape variety. “If someone in Castagnole Monferrato offers you Ruché, it’s because he wants to spend time with you”: the sign at the town’s entrance is an invitation for wine lovers to visit the places in the area in search of this rare grape. The Castagnole locals will welcome you with their greatest treasure, the wine which was traditionally drunk at festivals and special occasions. The red that, besides the flavours and aromas, and beyond drinking for drinking’s sake, reveals their very soul. It is no coincidence that a country priest was the first to make wine purely from this grape, then bottle, sell and promote it.
Food Pairing: Pairs well with cheeses and red meat dishes, also very successful with spicy Asian cuisine.
Other Notes: The Azienda Agricola Tommaso Bosco was born in 2014 in Castagnole Monferrato, a little village close to Asti and in the heart of Monferrato, which is the center for the production of Ruche’. Tommaso Bosco restarted the old farm of his grandparents, planting new vineyards and hazelnut trees. Today he owns 22 ha of which 8 are under vines and 14 are planted with hazelnuts. The most important target for Tommaso is to increase the fame of the autochthonous local wines like Ruche’, Grignolino and Barbera with a special focus on the first one: the real prince of Monferrato as the local people call it.
