Wine tasting the Marco Cecchini Way

Last June I had the great privilege of meeting The Winefathers. These men and women support artisanal wineries by crowd funding with a twist. They offer you a family membership when you donate to a specific winery. Wouldn’t you love to belong to an Italian Wine Family? I know I do, perhaps more than one.

I am a Wine Cousin to the Carbone siblings in Basilicata. I plan to select a couple other families on our wine and food adventure in May, 2017.  And you are invited to join us!

Below is a description of Marco’s winery in his own words from and listed on Snooth.com.

info@cecchinimarco.comWWW.CECCHINIMARCO.COM

• I always considered me an artisan in my winemaking but an artist in the interpretation of my terroir. I’m independent because I respect any idea but I trust and follow only my mind.

• Sparkling, biodynamic, natural, industrial, anphorated, thick wines! I don’t like trends. A very good wine it’s enough to me.

• The Marco Cecchini winery is located in Faedis, in the middle of the Colli Orientali del Friuli, North East of Italy. Here its 8 Ha of vineyards lay mostly on gentle hills.
• This “terroir” expresses the most distinctive characteristics for an equilibrated vinegrowing and winemaking: a temperate climate and the rudeness and avarice of the soil made of marls from the eocenic period.

• My attention has always been directed to preserve and restructure the very old vineyards we cultivate while the new vineyards grow, following their natural life. Cultivation and the care we direct to the vines are all handmade during the season targeted to the harvest: the most important moment of the year.

• Each vine is interpreted in its singleness to get the perfect equilibrium and preserve the aromatic richness typical of this lands and its grapes. The vinification is respectful of our tradition and territoriality but open to new experiences. This allows us to obtain unique wines that meet our customer expectations.

• Our winery focused its attention on autoctonal wines which need to be preserved and on international grape varieties that found in Friuli their best habitat.

• Elegance is our philosophy in winemaking.

Marco is a multifaceted Individual. He is a wonderful cook, and a music, art and  cinema afficionato .He attended university and attained a degree in International Economics and Exchange Market Values and is quite proud of this accomplishment.  He had intended to pursue that career but was asked to assist his father temporarily at the winery.

While working at the winery he let his heart be stolen by the creativity a winemaker must use to develop his brand, by the beauty of working with the land and on the land itself and by the freedom of expression he discovered and embellished as he worked. I watched this man gently fondle the vines as we walked uphill through the winery. He explained that he personally would touch each vine several times each year and, of course, his workers would as well. He pruned branches as we walked to the highest point of his winery. It was obvious that this man was completely enthralled with his vines, his land, his work.

As we reached the highest point of his property, Marco explained that Slovenia is just over the hill a few kilometers from his site.  

While we admired the gorgeous view he explained that both countries share the Tove Grape (I believe I have that right) but Slovenia has now claimed the right to use the name ”Tove”. His Tove is now called Fruiliano because of the national distinction. He said I would enjoy it no matter the name.

Before descending for our wine pairings he showed me an old shepards’ rest stop from 1867. Here, in the dead of winter, sheep herders would escape the cold winter nights inside this stone enclosure. He has kept it on his land as a historical reminder and even incorporated the 1867 into his business.

Now we had worked up an appetite and a thirst for vino. Marco had created quite a tasting/pairing venue for us. I was spending this day with Luca Latronico (one of The Winefathers),

and two other women from Trieste. Below is a photo of another gathering for a meal and winetasting at Marco’s winery:

As we sampled his luscious wines and paired them with fantastic food, he explained how each wine enhanced which foods. Here is his chart from his website.

For me this illustration displays his personality and the wonder of his varieties. I completely fell in love with the Tove (Friuliano), Verlit and Picolit. I enjoyed all of them tremendously. And I was very glad that I did not need to drive back to the hotel.

Marco Cecchini is as unforgettable as is his wine. I wish I could return tomorrow to simply sip any one of his wines and talk with him. I know the music would be playing in the background and we would discuss world events, wine and food, people and politics. I will have to wait for that experience. However, as soon as I complete this post I plan to order some of his wonderful nectar of the gods delivered pronto.

I wish I could share it with you when it arrives. But you can have the full experience next May if you join our group adventure. There are several seats remaining—we are only taking 24 people to these 6 wineries. If you are interested, contact me for more information at Marilyn@takemehomeitaly.com. Grazie Mille and Cin Cin!

(NB. Some photos were borrowed. Some were mine.)