San Ferdinando’s Vermentino comes from vines planted in 2010 at 300m above sea level.  This north-facing vineyard has sand in the first 20cm of soil, with compact grey clay below.  Freshness and drinkability, rather than concentration, are the objectives in the wine, so the number of bunches per...

100% Sangiovese, with yields at 35 hl/ha. The wine was fermented in open-top stainless steel vats with macerations lasting over a month; malolactic took place in barrel. Aged 18 months in 228-350L barrels, 20% of which were new.  This wine is a clear indication that Candialle is in no rush to...

100% Sangiovese. Jarkko and Josephin were the first in Chianti Classico to use 250L ceramic orbs called Clayver for aging their wines.  They are fired a very high temperatures and are 20% less porous than terracotta. The wine is called Mimas--one of the many satellites of Saturn--as the Clayver...

100% Sangiovese, with yields at 35 hl/ha. The wine was fermented in open-top stainless steel vats with macerations lasting over a month; malolactic took place in barrel. Aged 18 months in 228-350L barrels, 20% of which were new.  This wine is a clear indication that Candialle is in no rush to...

Malvasia Verde/Malvasia Bianco/Biancame/Trebbiano/Grechetto. Organically farmed, hand-harvested estate fruit. The grapes are destemmed and macerated overnight, gently pressed and and co-fermented with native yeasts in glass-lined cement tanks. The wine is aged in steel and then bottled in May after...

100% Sangiovese. Typically, Fonterenza's rosato comes from estate fruit but in 2023, they lost 2/3 of their crop and sourced for this wine. The berries are destemmed and gently pressed with the juice remaining in contact with the skins for about 8 hours. The must ferments spontaneously and slowly,...

Field blend. Red: Sangiovese/Ciliegiolo/Colorino/Mammolo/Canaiolo/others. White: Malvasia/Malvasia Toscana/Trebbiano/Procanico/Nocchianello/more. The list of varieties--not even a complete one--tells the tale of this wine's name, Uva Matta or "crazy grapes". This tiny parcel was planted in 1923 on...

100% Sangiovese. Fonterenza's rosato comes a pre-selection of their biodynamically farmed Montalcino vines, which are mainly north-facing on complex, crumbly, schistous marl soils. The berries are destemmed and gently pressed with the juice remaining in contact with the skins for up to 8 hours. The...

100% Sangiovese. Until a few years ago, this half-hectare of bush-trained vines went into Fonterenza's Rosso di Montalcino; planted in 2005, this pruning style led to smaller berries, lower yields and more concentrated and complex wine, which warranted its own separate bottling eventually. The...

70% Montepulciano & 30% Sangiovese. Fermented in stainless steel and aged four months in steel & six months in bottle before release. As the Gambero Rosso puts it: “the Rosso Piceno is a consumer’s dream, straightforward but delicious and a pleasure to drink.”

50% Montepulciano, 50% Sangiovese from DeAngelis’ vineyards in the province of Ascoli Piceno. The juice is immediately drained after crushing and malolactic is avoided, allowing for a light-colored and zippy rosato with lots of citrus notes.  Certified organic.

100% Blatterle. This indigenous variety goes back centuries in the Alto Adige but has shrunk down to a mere 1.5 hectares in production today. Nusserhof is one of only three growers of this thin-skinned, golden-yellow rarity and is the largest of them with their half hectare in Bolzano. The farming...

90% Schiava/10% "other". Known locally as Vernatsch, Schiava is a thin-skinned grape native to the Alto Adige but down to only about 200 hectares in the region. The Mayrs of Nusserhof have a 1.5-hectare plot of 90-year-old Schiava vines a few kilometers from their home vineyard (mixed in are...

100% Catarratto. De Bartoli has a long-term lease on 2 hectares of Catarratto about 20 km to the east in Alcamo. The 20-year-old vines grow on clay-loam soils, are farmed organically and harvested by hand. The whole clusters are gently pressed and the must settled for 48 hours. Fermentation is...

100% Grillo. All De Bartoli's marsala wines are pure Grillo, a rarity--as is its being organically farmed, estate-only, hand-harvested fruit. The bunches are gently pressed and the must fermented spontaneously with natural yeasts in wooden vats. The wine is first aged for a year in conical wooden...

100% Zibibbo. From very low, bush-trained, organically farmed vines on De Bartoli's estate in the contrada of Bukkuram on the island of Pantelleria. The vines average around 50 years old and are grow in light, sandy volcanic soils in a low-walled, windy clos. De Bartoli makes two dried-grape...