Mirco Mariotti Smarazen Pét-Nat

About Mirco Mariotti Smarazen Pét-Nat

Mirco Mariotti Smarazen Pét-Nat is farmed right on a beach on the Adriatic Sea. The very definition of beach wine! Tangy, bubbly, and fun.

About Mirco Mariotti

Beach vines! Beach wines! The unique Bosco Eliceo has vines on the beach, and a long tradition of making frizzante metodo ancestrale wines with extremely old vines, some reaching more than 100 years old. The part of Romagna where Mariotti is from is a laid-back beach area, where locals eat grilled flat-bread sandwiches called piadina romagnola, and slosh back the frothy frizzante. In fact, Mariotti’s wines are named after local card games! Instead of charmat, he produces old-school bottle-fermented (rifermentato in bottiglia) wines out the native grapes Trebbiano Romagnolo, and a rare red called Fortana – a savory wild thing with high acid and a black cherry or wild strawberry notes depending on vintage; it also has a bitter vermouth-like spice to it. I find it similar to the Lambrusco di Sorbara, with a less refined acidity but a more savory complexity.

His vines are in Fortana’s grand cru growing area of Bosco Eliceo, just 300 meters from the Adriatic sea. Since the vines are grown in the sand (Beach Vines! Beach Wines!), they are non-grafted and on their own native rootstock (It. piede franco). Interestingly, he uses the process of propaggine, a type of selezione massale, for new vines. Many vines are over 100 years old, with roots good deep two meters to the aquifer below. They are gnarly. And, by growing vines so close to the beach, that savory, even salty mouthfeel, really come through. Mariotti is an excellent example of a producer who is making more interesting wines than a generation ago, that are less rustic but aren’t trying to follow the model of fine wines. They make me want to invite friends over to play cards. Kick-off your sandals, light up the grill, and deal the cards. This is farmer-fizz from local varieties that’s unique, delicious, and without pretense.