This Raconteur was in the presence of another Raconteur as Thomas Cuni led us on a wine tasting first of Damilano and then with Tua Rita at my local wine shop, The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  Rita and Virgilio Tua began with two hectares of vineyards in 1984, and in less than a decade were up to nine hectares, then twenty and now thirty.  Their passion and enthusiasm originally had them labeled as “vin de garage.” Unfortunately, Virgilio passed away in 2010, but their daughter married and she and her husband both have the driven passion that her mother and late father displayed.

We had some Azienda Agricola Tua Rita Keir (Val di Cornia) Toscana IGT 2018 and Keir in old Greek means “working hands,” meaning the hands that create the amphora.  This wine is pure Syrah and comes from a one-hectare vineyard on a sloping hillside of Alta Maremma part of the Colline Metallifere with southern exposure and the appellation of Val di Cornia.  The vineyard was planted in 2004 on soil that is clay, lime and small rocks and the first vintage was 2016.  The Initial Fermentation is done in open Amphora pots along with a Maceration period on the lees for six months in the Amphora, and then rests for three months in French barriques and then followed with several months in the bottle before being released.  There were twenty-five-hundred bottles produced of this wine.  A beautiful garnet color wine that offered notes of red and black fruits, the earth and spices.  On the palate there were tones of black cherry, raspberry and blackberry, Bay Leaf and some wonderful full tannins, perfectly blended and balanced with a nice long count finish of terroir.  This was a delightful Syrah that really enchanted me, it was really refreshing.

The last wine of the tasting was Tua Rita Per Sempre Toscana IGT 2018, another Syrah wine done in a more traditional winemaking method, and Per Sempre is Italian for “forever.” This elevated vineyard is one-hundred-seventy-nine-acres of clay, lime, pebbles and stones with a southern exposure.  The vineyard was planted in 1998 and the first vintage of this wine was 2001.  Initial Fermentation was for sixteen days, followed by Maceration for twenty-eight days in oak, and then Malolactic Fermentation and aging follows in French Oak barriques for about twenty months and then six months of resting in the bottle before release.  This was a deep garnet wine that offered notes of blackberries, plums and figs with black pepper and scents of violets.  On the palate this was a full-bodied wine with notes of black fruits and pepper with silky tannins and a nice long count finish of fruit and terroir.  This was a big classic Syrah and if I hadn’t had the Keir, I would have been totally for this wine, but as we talked even after the tasting, I was still in love with the Keir and that interpretation of Syrah.