Gotico Ciù Ciù 2008: the Rediscovered Rosso Piceno

Has it ever happened to you to buy something and then forget over time that you bought it?
With wine it happens often: sometimes it's a misfortune, other times quite the opposite.
In 2010 I was in the Marche and there was certainly a reason that led me to purchase this wine, but too much time has passed and I don't even vaguely remember it!
The fact remains that that year I bought Gotico, this Rosso Piceno Superiore produced by azienda agricola Ciù Ciù, and it stayed in the cellar until 2015.
At the end of 2014, while reorganizing the wines in the cellar, I realized I still had this bottle and I promised myself to drink it as soon as possible, since, knowing absolutely nothing about the product inside, I had serious doubts about the aging potential of this wine.
On the table: culatello, salame, and salsicce al sugo – the time has come, let's try it!

The producing winery is based in Offida and was founded by the Bartolomei couple in the 1970s; it then built its success on the promotion of the Pecorino and Passerina grape varieties, like many producers in the area.
In the bottle we have Montepulciano at 70% and Sangiovese at 30%, and the product was aged in oak barrels for approximately 12 months with an alcohol content of 14% vol; the grapes come from vines rooted in predominantly clay soils situated at approximately 300 metres above sea level.

Let's talk about the vintage: 2008 was a particularly rainy year for the Marche, also characterized by a warm summer that was not without rainfall and strong day-to-night temperature swings, which should have favored the synthesis of aromatic compounds and lent the right acidity.
I very much want to disprove my own skepticism, so I let it decant for about 40 minutes.
The color is deep red, garnet at the rim and tending toward orange; very intense nose of spices, vanilla, pepper, ripe sour cherry, cherry, and toasty notes. The curiosity to taste it is strong – fingers crossed! The palate does not contradict the nose; we are in the presence of a wine with significant structure and a full body, very tannic but well balanced, decent acidity, good persistence.

If I had to find a fault, it might be the "too much wood" that covers things a little, but not to the point of excessively penalizing the product.
I got lucky! The feeling is (almost) comparable to finding money in the pocket of an old pair of jeans!