We were at the presentation of Rudis, the new wine from the Terre Caudium company in the heart of Sannio and precisely in Cautano (Bn)
On one of the last warm evenings of October in the light of sunset, overlooking the valley, the Caporaso family presented the new idea of wine, which isn’t so new after all!
Rudis is an Aglianico that incorporates traditional winemaking techniques.
Vinified in purity, with the use of indigenous yeasts, fermented in chestnut barrels as in the past for this vine, exclusively manual punching down using the ancient wooden tool used for generations. After fermentation Rudis is drawn off and left again in barrels for just 8 months, then filtered and bottled.
What is the peculiarity of Rudis and why therefore raw?
Unlike modern Aglianicos which wait at least a couple of years before being drunk, satisfying the needs of more comfortable tastings, Rudis is put on the market a few months after the harvest.
The goal is to make Aglianico taste as frank, immediate and sincere today as the wine of the past.
The new generation of the Caporaso family, Annalisa, Sara and Ruben, who took over from their parents, felt the need to draw from their grandfather’s old knowledge and the peasant traditions of Taburno to present a project that has an ancient flavor albeit with a modern and fluid approach.
Terre Caudium is a company already known for the prestigious awards of products such as the Cariavis wine, Aglianico del Taburno DOCG reserve medal 2022 at the Concours Mondial Brussels and for the care of the vineyard which has always characterized the family work.
Today Rudis takes a central place in the company’s story telling starting from the choice of the acronym name:
R because rude,
Unique, for the uniqueness of the grape variety and for the people who motivated the Caporaso brothers
D the gift of the barrel inherited from grandfather Pasquale, already used for 30 harvests
The beginning of a new version of Aglianico and the possibility of reinventing itself
S as in the effort required from everyone to make the wine
Rudis, from the Latin rude, raw, its distinctive characteristic!
The bottle chosen is a light glass burgundy and the cap is made of sustainable materials deriving from sugar cane, the production philosophy is centered on sustainability together with the fight towards gender equality, present in the gender equality symbol on the label.
As a company, Terre Caudium is in fact committed to following some points of the 2030 agenda on social and ecological topics, topics that have brought together the Caporaso brothers, none of them yet thirty-year-olds, Annalisa trained in corporate marketing as well as Sara who is also a passionate beekeeper and Ruben wine technician cellar operator.
A union of intentions that translates into the 640 bottles of the 2022 harvest of this new but ancient Aglianico IGT.
For the label they relied on the artist Giosuè Russo who synthesized all the ideas and brought them back into an impactful drawing: Grandfather’s barrel and above it his hands intent on crushing the grapes from which the must comes out, an expression of simplicity and a strong bond with the territory.
Rudis aglianico igt vintage 2022, alcohol 13% we tasted it and paired it with traditional gastronomic products from Taburno:
Dense and intense ruby colour, on the nose it reveals a pleasant fruity and slightly balsamic note, no out of place hints, in the mouth it enters compact, fresh and with a tannin present but which decisively caresses the palate.
The persistence ends by returning to the ripe red fruits and prepares for another tasting of delicacies such as; the polenta, the truffles, the cheeses and finally invites us to contemplate the valley at our feet, satisfied with the taste which recalls a past implanted in the heart of each of us.
Terre Caudium winery
Contrada Sala, Cautano (Bn)
www.terrecaudium.com