Fattoria AL FIORE
Kawasaki, Miyagi

Grapes: Chardonnay 40%, Delaware 30%, Red Millennium 20%, Steuben 10% (from Yamagata)
Type: White
Style: Dry, light-bodied
Colour: Medium gold
Alcohol: 11%
Wild yeast: Yes
Any added sulphites: No
Filtered: No
Serving temperature: 10-14°C
Production: 2,067 bottles
Please store in a cool, dark place.

Tasting notes
Muscat and lychee as well as floral aromas immediately after opening the bottle. Flavours of honey of apple, kumquat, mango, jasmine and white pepper. Moderate acidity, with a slight bitterness in the aftertaste. Recommended to be consumed within 3 days after opening the bottle.

Food pairing
Galette, mussels steamed in wine, scallops carpaccio, soufflés, blue cheese

Winemaking
Fattoria AL FIORE has been producing the Neco series since 2016. This vintage of Cirol is a good selection of contracted farmers from all over Yamagata. A blend of four varieties - Chardonnay, Red Millenium and Delaware from previous years, plus blanc de noirs made from Steuben this year - with a good balance between the perfumed rose notes from the Red Millenium that characterise Cirol and the slightly richer, oaky notes. Red Millenium is a white grape variety developed in Japan in 1930 by Zenbe Kawakami, the ‘father of Japanese wine’. It is a white grape with a light wisteria colour like Koshu, and the wines produced have a gorgeous aroma and good acidity. It has gained increasing recognition in recent years.

Chardonnay was destemmed and macerated for a week. Fermentation continued in barrels, followed by 155 days sur lie. Delaware was directly pressed and transferred to resin tanks; after two days, the wine was transferred to barrels for fermentation, followed by sur lie for 166 days. Red Millennium was destemmed, macerated for two weeks and pressed. After one month of sur lie in resin tanks, the wine was divided between new acacia barrels and stainless steel tanks, each for 120 days of sur lie. The Steuben was directly pressed and fermented in barrels. 159 days sur lie. Finally, everything was blended and transferred to stainless steel tanks, where it was left to stand for a month before racking and bottling.

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