Raina Umbria Grechetto 2024

Raina's most aromatic skin-contact white — Grechetto given just enough time on its skins to add grip without losing its lift.

Grape Varietals & Region: 100% Grechetto, grown on north-east-facing guyot-trained vines at 220m in Montefalco, Umbria. Grechetto is one of Umbria's signature white grapes — naturally aromatic with a slightly bitter almond edge that skin contact tends to amplify rather than mask.

Taste Profile: Two days of skin contact brings a light amber hue and a savoury, textured edge to Grechetto's usual aromatic lift — expect orchard fruit and herbs up front, with a grippy, faintly bitter-almond finish that's very much part of the plan.

Winemaking Process: Hand-harvested in September, macerated on the skins for 2 days in stainless steel, fermented with indigenous yeast, then aged 7 months in stainless steel on fine lees before 3 months in bottle. Unfined and unfiltered; serve around 10°C.

Winemaker: Francesco Mariani is a chef as well as a vine grower, farming in Montefalco, Umbria alongside his friend and assistant Andrea Mattioli since 2002. Raina takes its name from the nickname of the previous owner of the field where they planted their first Sagrantino vines — a way of keeping the land's history tied to the wine. Ten hectares, farmed biodynamically between 220 and 300 metres above sea level, grow Sagrantino, Sangiovese, Montepulciano, Merlot, Syrah, Grechetto and Trebbiano Spoletino. In 2022 the estate left the DOC system altogether, choosing to bottle everything as IGT Umbria instead.