Today’s wine Wednesday is dedicated to a Rosé I tried last weekend at Vinitaly from Azienda Noventa in Botticino. Botticino is a very small DOC east of Brescia which was started in 1968. There are three areas that make up Botticino: Botticino Mattina – where they used to make wine and quarry marble, Botticino Sera – known for stockings and the area called San Gallo which has more hills and is known for their agriturismi or inns. The name Botticino comes from the word for barrels (botte). I visited the winery last summer with my then two year old son. The owner, Alessandra won my heart by picking him up over her head and carrying him up steep hills to show me the winery. I wrote about her here.

In addition to being a lovely person, Alessandra and her family who are all involved, make great wines. I had tasted the reds last year but this past meeting I got to taste their wine L’Aura which means dawn that was made from Schiava Gentile, one of the four grapes that goes into their red blends. Apparently they are the only ones in Botticino making a Rosé from Schiava today but in the past it was more common to see these lighter alcohol wines in the area. I liked it a lot. It was fruity with hints of strawberry and raspberry and was fresh on the palate with nice acidity. I could see that one glass of this wine could lead me to finish the whole bottle. I am not sure it is available yet in the States but their other wines are from Artisan wines in Norwalk. CT.