Organic/Bio From deep Southern Italy comes this delicious, gutsy, but still nicely fresh take on Primitivo, the Italian cousin to Zinfandel. There’s plenty of dark black plum and blackberry preserve fruit at the core with... Read More
West of Montalcino, Monteccuco balances inland Tuscany warmth with altitudes of more than 1,000 feet. That balance of sunny ripeness with freshness shows nicely here in this blend of 70% Sangiovese, 15% Ciliegiolo and 15% Montepulciano... Read More
Antonio Galloni's 95 point review in Vinous is accurate enough for where this beauty was when he tasted it last summer: The 2021s were brought in from late September to early October, a pretty classic time frame by today's... Read More
“Ripasso” means a fully dry Valpolicella wine is poured over the pressing from Amarone where the remaining sugar there triggers a second fermentation that enriches and darkens the wine. Here it added intensity to the... Read More
Federico Graziani comes at Etna wine from the perspective of a taster. At age 15 he took his first wine tasting course and in 1998, at age 23, he was crowned Italy’s top sommelier. He came to Etna in 2008 and now has 6HA... Read More
Freisa is cousin to Barolo’s Nebbiolo grape, but it’s the more casual, cool, fun-loving member of the family! The grape name comes from Latin for “strawberry” and you’ll certainly taste a big basked... Read More
Dolcetto is Piemonte’s lunchtime and afternoon red – the kind of wine you enjoy with friends and casual food when the wine’s job is to quench your thirst and make everyone smile a bit. This is that, a rich and... Read More
Organic/Bio Russo’s Calderara Sottana is more red-fruited and open/fleshy than the darker, more intense, San Lorenzo. But there’s still plenty of intensity to the perfume and flavors and grip on the long, minerally,... Read More
Organic/BioPre-Order OnlyAt the very top of San Lorenzo, at 750 meters elevation, almost too high to be “Etna Rosso,” Russo farms a 0.7HA plot of vines planted in the early 1940s. Originally they were trained on... Read More
Organic/Bio Only from Etna do you get this captivating combination of smoky volcanic rock and crunchy-ripe strawberry/sweet cherry fruit with mouthcoating tannins that give shape and elevate the flavors without drying you out... Read More
The origin story of Ruche is muddled, but it may have evolved in France’s Haute-Savoie before finding it’s real home in Italy’s Piemonte region but was more likely born in Monferato of a crossing of Croatina... Read More
This is a terrific Italian red for everything from mushroom risotto to chicken mole – even pizza! Yes, “Ripasso” wine is made by pouring new Valpolicella wine over the just pressed skins of an Amarone fermentation.... Read More
Organic/Bio At just 1,800 feet elevation, the lowest of Passopisciaro’s Contrada vines grow on the last edges of Mount Etna lava. The vines push through the lava to limestone and develop more rich, round, textures than the... Read More
Organic/Bio This is from a tiny, tiny, plot of vines Andrea Franchetti planted in the Passochianche contrada around 3,000 feet done in large oak. Maybe “Puligny Montrachet meets the Santa Cruz Mountains” suggests the... Read More
Organic/Bio With just 1HA of vines on the 2,800 foot elevation, lava-covered, Contrada Sciaranuova, Passopisciaro made only 165 cases or so of this in 2021. The name translates to new lava flow which covered the site in the 1600s... Read More
I never met Andrea Franchetti, who died in December 2021 at the age of 72. But this wine sums up everything I’ve read and heard from his partners at Passopisciaro. “Poetic” and “wildly visionary”... Read More
Carmignano, just outside Florence, is the forgotten region of Tuscany, but when the Medici’s ruled the region, it was their home vineyard. As Vinous says, “The Piaggia winery remains, without a doubt, the shining beacon... Read More
Lower ABV
Sabino Loffredo founded his Campania winery in 1990 and has become famous for making some of the very best white wines in all of Italy. His 2021 Greco is certainly a stunner! This old Greek grape is wildly sophisticated... Read More
Organic/Bio Who knew Primitivo could be this…well, good? Wines from the Italian cousin of California’s Zinfandel are usually pruny, loaded with nail polish remover volatile acidity, and/or bursting with leather/horse... Read More
Organic/Bio How to get you to try this? “The most joyfully delicious Primitivo we’ve ever tried” falls short. And “Like JP Brun Beaujolais except from Puglia Primitivo” is a bit obscure. Let’s... Read More
Sangiovese from Montepulciano is naturally a little darker and more powerful than from Chianti, and Poliziano leans into that with plenty of dark color and a spicy oak sheen. As Suckling says in the 92 point review, A modern Vino... Read More
Organic/Bio Aglianico is Campania’s most important red grape and examples from the Taurasi region show so much power, intensity, and cellar potential they’ve come to be called “the Barolo of the south.”... Read More
Sure, let’s sell a $60 wine from a place most don’t know and a winery NO ONE has ever heard of! But it’s just so very, very, good. The place is Valtellina in the Alpine mountains of northern Lombardy, the grape... Read More
Organic/Bio Just as in the rest of Europe, when phylloxera came to Sicily in the early 20th Century it devastated most of the region's vineyards. But two small plots of Nerello Mascalese on Mount Etna's steep slopes survived,... Read More
Organic/Bio “Super-Tuscan” wines don’t have to be “super” – the term came about in the 1980s to describe wines like Sassicaia and Sammarco that failed to qualify for any Tuscan DOC label (usually... Read More
