Fattoria AL FIORE
Kawasaki, Miyagi

Grapes: Delaware (from Yamagata)
Type: Orange
Style: Dry, medium-bodied
Colour: Medium copper
Alcohol: 12.5%
Wild yeast: Yes
Any added sulphites: No
Filtered: No
Serving temperature: 16°C-
Production: 2,521 bottles
Please store in a cool, dark place.

Tasting notes
Unique aromas of Wasanbon (fine-grained Japanese sugar), Osmanthus, Kintoki Ginger, caraway seed, and star anise. Also some fruit aromas such as pink grapefruit, pineapple.  The attack is powerful, with citrusy acidity. The Flavour is reminiscent of an orange wine from Italy's Friuli region. Gradually, it softens and transforms into tropical flavors. It can be enjoyed for about a week after opening and drunk slowly on its own. Bottle should be uncorked 30 minutes before drinking.

Food pairing
Coleslaw, braised pork belly(Buta no Kakuni), mapo aubergine, Drool chicken(mouthwatering chicken topped with coriander), tofu topped with stir-fried minced meat and miso, fried chicken with sweet and sour sauce(Chicken Nanban).

Winemaking
Anco, an annually vinified NECO series, is an orange wine made with Delaware. In previous years, winemaker Meguro has explored the meaning and direction he is aiming to take in making wine from the vitis labrusca variety, and for the 2023 vintage, he tried macerating for a longer period of time. Delaware grapes from four contract farms in Yamagata were macerated for a minimum of 19 days and a maximum of 63 days. This allowed the Foxy flavour characteristic of the variety to disappear and allowed the grapes to contain a slight, but not unpleasant, volatile acidity, as opposed to the acidity that tends to drop off with ripeness, which is common with table grape varieties. Fermentation took place in barrels and resin tanks, with everything blended in stainless steel tanks after 4-5 months of sur lie. Some amphoras were also used during the sur lie period. The wine has a good volume of alcohol, a pleasant degree of volatile acidity and oxidative ageing in old oak barrels and amphorae. On its own, the vitis labrusca grape can easily be one-dimensional, but the vinification process has allowed it to develop complexity and depth.

The name of the series, NECO, is a coined word combining the Italian words Nuova Esperimento (‘new and experimental’) and COoperazione (‘cooperation’) and the cats (猫 pronounced ‘neko’ ) that AL FIORE's representative, Mr. Hirotaka Meguro, lives with. Hirotaka has adopted cats he has met by chance in the fields and mountains as family members since he was a chef at a restaurant, and has named each wine after a cat, overlapping the unique characteristics of each cat with those of the wine. 

Nutrition Facts per 100ml
Energy: 73 kcal
Fat: 0 g
 - Saturates: 0 g
Carbohydrate: 2.0 g
 - Sugar: 2.0 g
Protein: 0.1 g
Salt: 0g