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Cantina Indigeno

Coco Bianco 2021

Price: $29.95
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Tasting notes

Cococciola is one of the rarest indigenous whites in Italy, and this is one of very few varietal skin-contact expressions of it available outside the region. The 3-day maceration adds texture without hiding the grape's natural lemon-citrus brightness and saline minerality — it finishes like a mouthful of sea air.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
LemonApricotWhite PeachSalt
  • Style: Dry, light-to-medium body orange wine; pale amber; lemon, apricot, white flowers, saline finish; ~12% ABV
  • Grapes & Terroir: 100% Cococciola; organically farmed; calcareous clay and stony limestone soils; Montorio al Vomano, Teramo province, ~200-500m elevation
  • Winemaking: Destemmed; 3 days skin maceration; spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts; no temperature control; 6 months in fiberglass; no fining, filtration, or added sulfites
  • Serving: Serve at 48-54F; light chill recommended; no decant needed
  • Pairing: Oysters, grilled sardines, spaghetti alle vongole, pecorino fresco, fried vegetables, herb-marinated white fish
  • Similar To: For fans of skin-contact Verdicchio, Ribolla Gialla orange, or herbaceous Sauvignon Blanc who want something rarer and saltier

Coco Bianco is 100% Cococciola, a green-skinned indigenous grape native to Abruzzo and found primarily in the Chieti and Teramo provinces. The variety is known for its pronounced acidity and grassy, herbaceous aromatics. At Cantina Indigeno's vineyards near Montorio al Vomano in the Teramo hills, the vines average around 30 years old and grow on calcareous clay and stony limestone soils roughly 8 kilometers from the Adriatic coast.

Winemaking is minimal: the grapes are destemmed and macerated on skins for 3 days, then fermented spontaneously with native yeasts at an uncontrolled temperature without any additions. The wine ages for 6 months in fiberglass containers and is bottled without fining, filtration, or added sulfites. The result sits in orange wine territory, picking up light texture and color from the brief skin contact while retaining the variety's signature brightness.

On the palate, the 2021 shows lemon, apricot, and white flowers with zippy acidity and a salty, lees-driven finish. The saline minerality is a recurring thread in Cococciola grown at this latitude, where Adriatic breezes and calcareous soils both contribute to the wine's character. Body is light to medium, and the wine drinks easily without sacrificing personality.

Cococciola was long used only as a blending grape to boost acidity in Trebbiano d'Abruzzo. Varietal bottlings like this one have only gained traction in recent decades, following the establishment of the Abruzzo Cococciola DOC type in 2010. This bottle is labeled as Abruzzo IGT, giving Cantina Indigeno freedom to vinify without DOC constraints.

The high acidity and saline finish make this a natural match for shellfish, briny oysters, and grilled sardines. It holds up well alongside fried vegetables, spaghetti alle vongole, or pecorino fresco. The light tannins from the skin contact also work with herb-marinated white fish and simple antipasti.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Orange Wine
Wine Style:, Light Body
Grapes:, Cococciola
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, 2021
Alcohol:, 12%
Country:, Italy
Region:, Abruzzo
Appellation:, Abruzzo IGT
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


Important Compliance Requirements

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If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


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Heat/Frost damage

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Placed an order. What next?

1. You will receive an order confirmation email with your order summary.*

2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

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**If delivery is attempted 3 times without success, or if you fail to retrieve your package from the carrier depot by the stated deadline, the shipping fee will not be refunded to the customer.

Returns Policy

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Cantina Indigeno

Cantina Indigeno was founded in 2016 in Montorio al Vomano, a town in the upper Vomano river valley in the Teramo province of Abruzzo. The four founders are Alfredo Giugno, Nicola Reginaldi, Fabio Petrella, and Loreto Lamolinara. None started as winemakers: Alfredo worked as an accountant and fermented beer as a hobby; Loreto distributed craft beers; together they opened a microbrewery called La Casa di Cura in Crognaleto in 2013. Nicola, a sommelier and pub owner in Teramo who had become absorbed by the natural wine world, brought the group toward grape fermentation. The early project was shaped in part by guidance from the team at Lammidia, another natural wine producer in Abruzzo.

Cantina Indigeno manages around 9 hectares of organically certified vines near Teramo. The vineyards are situated around Montorio al Vomano at elevations ranging from roughly 200 to 500 meters on calcareous clay and stony limestone soils. Vines average around 30 years old. The winery began by renting neglected old vineyards originally planted with Montepulciano and Trebbiano and has since expanded to include Cococciola and other indigenous varieties. Farming uses only copper and sulfur in the vineyard, with no synthetic inputs.

Cellar practice is consistent across the range: spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts, no temperature control, no fining or filtration, and no added sulfites at any stage. For the Coco Bianco, grapes are destemmed and macerated on skins for 3 days before spontaneous fermentation begins. The wine then ages 6 months in fiberglass containers before bottling. Fermentation and aging vessels across the winery include fiberglass tanks, stainless steel, and occasionally amphorae.

Wine region

Abruzzo, Italy

Abruzzo occupies a stretch of central-eastern Italy between the Apennine Mountains to the west and the Adriatic Sea to the east. The Apennines account for roughly 65% of the region's terrain and include the Gran Sasso massif, home to Corno Grande at 2,912 meters, the highest peak in the Apennines. Most viable vineyard land runs along a west-to-east band from the Apennine foothills to the Adriatic coastal hills, a zone roughly 24 to 32 kilometers wide. Soils in this band are predominantly calcareous clay shaped by river valleys flowing from the mountains toward the sea. The climate is dual: Mediterranean warmth along the coast with warm, dry summers and mild winters, and a more continental character inland with more pronounced seasonal swings and diurnal temperature variation at higher elevations.

Abruzzo holds two DOCGs: Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Colline Teramane, which covers 30 select communes in the Teramo province, and Terre Tollesi/Tullum in the Chieti province. Seven DOC designations include Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, Trebbiano d'Abruzzo, Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo, Controguerra, and Abruzzo DOC, the last of which covers white varieties including Cococciola. Montepulciano is the dominant red grape, while Trebbiano d'Abruzzo leads white production. Indigenous varieties including Pecorino, Passerina, Cococciola, and Montonico have seen renewed interest from smaller producers. Cococciola is concentrated mainly in the province of Chieti, with a cultivated area of around 900 hectares across Abruzzo, and obtained its own DOC type designation in 2010.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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