Francesco Annesanti returned to his family’s estate after completing a degree in the natural sciences and working for a few years in his field to convert a stable into a winery and to plant vineyards additional to those of his grandfather. An isolated farm surrounded by forest in a part of Umbria with no appellation, Francesco does every aspect of the winemaking himself, from planting and tending the vines to designing the labels and bottling. We highly recommend visiting his Instagram (@cascina_annesanti) which is an intriguing and hypnotic mix of poetry, painting, vineyard/wildlife pics and winemaking. (Google translate is a great thing!) After just a few years in the US market his wines have attained a cult following, and after one sniff of this wine you’ll know why. A blend of three local grapes, Greccheto, Malvasia and Trebbiano Toscano, a portion of the grapes are given a brief maceration on the skins to give more aromatics while refraining from making a fully orange wine, and the rest are made into more standard white wine. Francesco’s stated goal with his wines is to be able to smell the scent the earth gives off in Spring at sunset. That was not in our tasting notes when we tasted this wine, but beeswax, honey, yellow melon, pear, pineapple core and almond paste were. Would be delicious with fish, white meat and fresh cheese.