Producers
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Rioja has been for a while now at a threshold, a place that sooner or later all of the most celebrated wine regions find themselves.The traditional and familiar wineries that defined its style are firmly established, producing some of the finest wines in the world, while on the other side of the gate young growers and winemakers are working to find their place, refining - and sometimes indeed redefining - the style of the wines made in the region. What the new generation of winemakers and bodegas share is an emphasis on place, not in the cellar. Instead of making wines that represent the region as a whole, with a marked house style, they focus on sites and vineyards, hoping that their wines reflect the different terroirs and landscapes found in the region. Miguel Merino Jr is the perfect example of someone making the best of this moment, with a solid foundation in the style that made Rioja’s most emblematic and venerated wines, while at the same time creating something new.
His father paved the way, when after a successful career as a wine exporter he decided to start a small bodega, choosing Briones as their focal point, a small and historic village where old vines abound, and are mostly planted in steep slopes, with varying soil-types of sand, clay, and limestone, and markedly Atlantic influenced climate. Merino Jr. worked on and off with him and in other wineries, and he and his wife Erika joined full-time in 2017, bringing contemporary ideas to the production (such as the emphasis on single-vineyards, the creation of a monovarietal Garnacha and a white wine, as well as a stronger focus on farming.) Today he owns 7 hectares of vineyards, and farms another 6, distributed among 24 different plots, all located in Briones. The oldest of his vines were planted in 1929, many in the 60’s and 70’s, and the younger ones planted in 2001.
His portfolio is now made of the first wines created by his father, still conforming to the traditional standards of the region, labeled Reserva, and Gran Reserva, as well as new wines named after the vineyards Merino Jr chose to focus on. The style on both lines is decidedly elegant, and what stands out after the judicious work in the vineyards - all done by hand, without the use of herbicides or fertilizers - and the soft approach in the cellar is balance, his main goal.
The still tiny production - just under 60,000 bottles - is growing as his work keeps getting discovered and praised, and some of his work and wines become references for the new Rioja, such as the single-vineyards La Loma (Tempranillo with a bit of Garnacha), and La Quinta Cruz (100% Mazuelo or Carignan.)
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Domaine Gerard Millet is in the village of Bué in Sancerre, which is considered one of the very best villages in the appellation. The winery is currently run by Steve Millet. He oversees their 19 hectares in Sancerre and six hectares in Menetou-Salon (a notably smaller and less famous appellation compared to Sancerre). The main soil is Kimmeridgian marl and flint.
Millet’s farming is sustainable and both the vineyards and the winery are certified HVE3. Millet does not use insecticides, herbicides or anti-botrytis treatments. In the cellar, fermentations are mainly in stainless steel; the exceptions are for the single-vineyard wines, which are spontaneously fermented and aged in neutral oak barrels of 400 to 600 liters.
There are three white Sancerre wines, including two single-vineyard ones; they are all quite impressive in their crystalline precision. There is a compelling red Sancerre as well a single-vineyard. Millet also makes both colors of Menetou, with the same care devoted to their Sancerre. Steve explains that Menetou tends to be a bit warmer than Sancerre, but his family’s vines are in a cooler part (the villages of Morogues and Aubinges), thus allowing those wines to maintain great tension. The Menetou wines are in fact quite serious, with great texture, juicy fruit and a mineral backbone providing structure.
With the demand for Sancerre outstripping supply, there are a lot of mediocre examples in the market because the name itself sells. We are so excited to connect with a winegrower who is wholeheartedly committed to making wines of distinctive character from this historic appellation as well as its lesser-known neighbor. Bowler represents Millet in a dozen markets in the United States. Please inquire about availability in yours.
Available in PA and NAT.
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Of the 175 wine growers in Vacqueyras; only 45 are bottling their own wines and selling direct from the domaine, with the rest selling to the co-op or to one of the three négociants in town. The Vache family of Domaine la Monardière falls amongst the growers. The Vache family bought their domaine in 1987 from the Monarde family, and immediately got to work revitalizing the vineyards, building a new winemaking facility. They began by selling the wines from the domaine's door. The Vaches also harvest all of their vineyards by hand, which is not a requirement of AOC Vacqueyras, nor is it a common practice. They have been working organically in the vineyards since 2000, but only began the certification process in 2007, and have now been certified since 2010.
They have 22 hectares total, 18 hectares in Vacqueyras and 4 hectares in Vaucluse. They never purchase any fruit or must. Monardiere has a lot of sandy soil and so they make a significant amount of rose and white - the total for both in the appelation is only 5%, but 15% of Monardiere's wine is rose and another 15% is white. Sixty percent of the appellation is on a plateau with a lot of stones and a clay subsoil. For all of the wines, they work with lower yields than the 36hl/ha that are allowed. They normally average 30-32hl/ha, but recent vintages have been hit hard 22 hl/ha in 2012 and 18hl/ha in 2013!
Since they practice organic viticulture, it only follows that they should vinify with as little intervention in the cellar as possible, to produce authentic wines that are true to their origin. After harvest, the grapes are sorted and mostly destemmed, and then put into cement vats; the indigenous yeasts found on the grapes start the fermentation naturally. They pump-over the wine daily for a gentle extraction. The Syrah and some of the Grenache vats are punched down manually, and maceration takes place for two to three weeks. The wines are then aged in vats or used barrels throughout the winter and then bottled without fining or filtration and a low amout of sulfur. The Monardiere wines offer an incredibly pure expression of Vacqueyras. www.monardiere.fr
BOWLER E-Zine Issue 4 | January 2022: HVE – Qu’est-ce que c’est?
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Mondino's master distiller, Hans, learned his craft during the 1960s in Italy. From there he brought the Amaro recipe to Bavaria. The old family recipe was brought to life again by his grandson Max together with his childhood friends Ferdinand, Florian, and Benedikt, using the traditional recipe they provided a modern twist and so created an extraordinarily upscale aperitif: purely organic, refined with regional ingredients and low in sugar.
Typical for Mondino are the fruity bitter oranges which come from the Italian Amalfi coast or from Spain. The fruit is always freshly macerated when it has reached its ideal degree of ripeness. The pleasant sourness of Mondino is gained from fresh rhubarb. Gentian gives it its tangy flavour and the hibiscus flower its beautiful red colour. These selected ingredients together with Bavarian natural spring water, which rates amongst the superior waters of Europe, produce a full-bodied pleasure. All herbs are certified organic, and if possible, are sourced locally.
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Back in 2016, this small, family-owned, nature-oriented producer of “real Prosecco” absolutely blew us away in a massive blind tasting divided by category (col fondo, brut, extra dry, etc), outclassing a number of other producers—some more respected, others more famous—in every flight. Knowing that moments like these don’t happen often, we contacted them right away and found the people to be as genuine as the wines.
The Mongarda story began in 1978, when Bruno Tormena decided to dedicate himself full-time to the career of vignaiolo. As a youngster he learned the art of vine cultivation while working with his grandfather in family vineyards in the locality of Mongarda, from which the estate takes its name. Bruno transmitted his passion to his son, Martino, who has run the estate since 2011. Martino is a recent graduate of the enology school in Conegliano and he has intensified his family’s commitment to their land and the quality of their wines.
Today, Mongarda has 5 hectares of woods and 12.5 hectares of vines, spread between the villages of Col San Martino, Farra di Soligo, Miane, and Valdobbiadene. This is the heart of the Valdobbiadene-Conegliano Prosecco Superiore zone. Mongarda’s vineyards are on extreme slopes with old vines and poor, rocky soils, a situation which forces them to be worked manually. The main variety is, of course, Glera, but the Tormena family has also kept the local heirlooms of Perera, Verdiso, Bianchetta, and Boschera, which are interspersed through the parcels and co-harvested and co-fermented with the Glera.
The vines, some dating back to 1950, are pampered: no weedkillers (undesired plants are mowed or removed by hand) and no synthetic fertilizers (instead, a biodynamic compost of grape skins, vine cuttings, and manure from grass-fed cows is made in-house). While Martino has set organic certification as a goal, he is also concerned with elevated use of copper, whose toxicity is perhaps the ‘elephant’ in the organic viticulture room, especially in wet, cool, climates. He includes natural extracts from stinging nettles and horsetail.
In the cellar, the objective is to let the vintage and vineyards speak. Grapes are pressed whole cluster, softly enough to avoid extracting bitterness. All primary fermentations are spontaneous. The use of dosage is not formulaic, but is adjusted according to each vintage and disgorgement. Total production is 30,000 bottles.
Take a look at this beautiful five-minute video!
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Montagnette is produced at Les Vignerons D'Estezargues, a small Southern Rhone Cooperative located in the Gard Departement, west of Villeneuve-Les-Avignon. They are a unique co-op because each vineyard is farmed sustainably and the wines are bottled separately for each estate. The yields in the vineyards are not high because the soil is very arid in this particular region. The co-op's commitment to environmentally-respectful viticulture and to non-interventionist winemaking made it possible to follow the "Terra Vitis" charter: no cultured yeasts, no filtration, no fining, no enzymes, no SO2 on the grapes at harvest (or during the vinification), only a little bit for bottling.
Domaine La Montagnette is owned by Jean-Marie Granier, aka the Gentleman Farmer of Estézargues! He bought his first plots when he was 16, became the city’s mayor at 24, and the vice-president of the co-op back in 1990. He’s been with the co-op for the past 50 years. Following the path of his father, who farmed about 30 hectares of vineyards, Jean-Marie increased the vineyard to its current size of 60 hectares and his son, Jean-Laurent, has been caring for seven hectares since 2003.
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Thank you to importer Louis/Dressner for this producer profile:
(Click here for more on Monte Dall'Ora on Louis/Dressner's website and here for the winery's own website)
Located in the center of Valpolicella on one of the five ridges that descend the valley (which resemble the fingers of a hand), Monte Dall'Ora is the creation of Carlo Venturini and his wife Alessandra Zantedeschi. Both are from vignaioli families, but decided to start fresh with their own estate in 1995. At the time, the purchased terraces were in terrible condition and everything had to be rebuilt.
Vines are either selection massale or grafted on American rootstock. Carlo has chosen to work with (and in some cases, replant) the region's traditional varietals: Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, and Oseleta (a lost indigenous grape). The estate was worked organically until 2006, when the couple converted to biodynamic agriculture. The soils are unique to their particular ridge and are composed of limestone with a reddish hue. The first 15 meters are very soft and porous, permitting the vines' roots to penetrate deep in the subsoil.
The vines are all trained in the pergola style. Carlo thought about training the vines in Guyot, but quickly changed his mind for reasons of climate and quality control. In many regions, growers continue to use pergola because this vine tending system produces very high yields; while often inconsequential to the health of the grapes, the widespread justification is that is necessary to protect the fruit from the sun. In Valpolicella's case, this is actually true: Corvina and Corvinone are both very susceptible to sunlight. They are also very vigorous varietals: with guyot, bunches would get too big and become prone to illness. Pergola creates more air and space between clusters; the plants are more separated, which results in smaller and more concentrated bunches.
Instead of worrying about lower yields for higher concentration (an easy goal with but very hard to accomplish with pergola), Carlo prefers focusing his energy on balance in the vineyard: this essentially means promoting agricultural and natural biodiversity instead of just vine tending. Grass grows free, with cherry and olive trees complimenting the entirety of the vineyard. This work philosophy continues through the winemaking: "Finding the equilibrium in the vineyard brings balance in the cellar."
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Monte di Grazia is one of the latest additions to Bowler’s growing stable of excellent Italian growers. They are located in Campania in the town of Tramonti, inland and up from the Amalfi Coast, in the Lattari Mountains. It’s a cool, breezy microclimate and an isolated place. This is the first time—in any spot in the world—that our freight forwarder told us the only way to manage the pickup is with a specialized truck! This isolation, combined with altitude and volcanic soil, is also the reason why Tramonti is a pristine pocket of pre-phylloxera grapes. Alfsono Arpino, a pediatrician from the town, established the estate in 2004 out of love and respect for these old vines. His children, Olivia and Fortunato, are also involved in the operation, and today, the Arpino family farms 3.2 hectares of certified organic vineyards, as well as a hectare each of a lemon orchard and a chestnut grove.
The grape vines are ungrafted and trained in giant pergolas known locally as tendone. These vines are among the oldest vines in Italy: most are over 100 years old, with some approaching 300 years old. Replanting is done via propaggine, in which a cane from an exisiting plant is bent towards the earth and partially buried there, allowing it to take root. The red varieties are Tintore di Tramonti, Piedirosso, Moscio, Sciascinoso, Olivella, and the whites are Pepella, Biancatenera, and Ginestra.
To taste Monte di Grazia’s wines is to connect with a delicious, deep biology and history of a place.
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Following a successful career as a sommelier and restaurant owner in New York City, Patrick Cappiello set his sights on the West Coast, launching Monte Rio Cellars and Skull Wine Co. The pull towards winemaking happened organically, having spent years learning from various winemakers, among them his close friend, Pax Mahle.
As a restaurant buyer and young consumer, Patrick felt there was a lack of affordable, honest wines from California. Monte Rio Cellars is his answer to that, producing a wide range of balanced, and food-friendly wines for people to enjoy.
Working with family owned, organically farmed vineyards and simple winemaking, Patrick is achieving his goal of making delicious, hand-crafted wines in the spirit of old California.
Current releases from Skull Wine Co. are also available!
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Thank you to importer Louis/Dressner for this producer profile:
(Click here for more on Montesecondo on the Louis/Dressner website)
In a previous life, Silvio Messana was a New Yorker. There had always been this beautiful farm in Tuscany outside of Florence where Silvio’s mother lived. They visited yearly. His father had planted vineyards there in the early 1970’s. Since his death, his mother looked after them and sold the grapes to a local négociant. In the mid 1990’s, Silvio’s mother was ill and his family decided to move back to be near her. By this time, Silvio had already developed a passion for wine in the United States. With the certain impossibility of finding an affordable rent in New York with three growing sons, Silvio and his wife Catalina decided to stay on after his mother’s death, turning the Chianti Classico farm into their home with a portion of the farm converted as a half-year bed-and-breakfast. Silvio immediately began working on the vineyards himself.
The first vintage that Silvio estate bottled was 2000. There was a lot to learn and unlearn. He made friendships with only a few of the suspicious neighboring Tuscan vignaioli, but Paolo di Marchi of Isole e Olena (himself a foreigner from Piemonte) and his former agronomist Paolo Masi were encouraging and helpful with practical matters.
Catalina was against using any chemicals on the farm, insisting there must be a better way. Gradually through introductions to winemakers outside of the region who were using biodynamic practices (among them Nicolas Joly, Stefano Bellotti of Cascina degli Ulivi and, inidrectly, Sandro Sangiorgio, the director of the wine magazine Porthos), Silvio began to lose his fears and have faith that it was possible. Their advice led the Messanas to take the leap into natural farming and seeking a way to make the wine without the use of added yeasts or other enhancers. In the meantime, piece by piece, Silvio built a winemaking facility with his own hands (there was a small winemaking “garage” on the estate before) and things fell into place.
In the vineyards, Silvio has old and younger vines of Sangiovese and Canaiolo with plantings of Colorino and Cabernet Sauvignon. The vineyard is a contiguous 11.5 hectares surrounding the farm and is on the south bank of a ravine, or borro, where there is sunlight on the vines all day long. 2003 was the first vintage fully vinified using only the grapes' own yeasts. After the 2002 harvest which had frost in the spring and hail in the summer, the heat of 2003 was almost pleasant (it’s always hot here in summer), and the harvest was pretty normal, with good, healthy fruit.
In the spring of 2004 while visiting Montesecondo, we tasted a vat of 2003 Sangiovese and Canaiolo that was still in tank (no wood). It was juicy, bright and delicious and, in every respect, it showed itself as Chianti. I mentioned that it would be delicious bottled like this; Silvio agreed, but shook his head. It would be complicated. Then a little later at lunch, I popped a Ruché from our producer in Colli Astigiani that was bottled briefly following a time in large, very neutral barrels (basically a tank wine). It was charming and incredibly drinkable, not simple, but not overly complex. Silvio was inspired by its unpretentiousness. I left their house that day, and Silvio was deeply considering the idea of doing a tank bottling of Chianti.
In the fall, Silvio told me that it was bottled. He also said it did not pass for DOCG status first for too much color and on the second submission for lack of color. Paolo di Marchi at Isole e Olena had submitted his Chianti Classico bottling twice and had been denied the DOCG for the same reason. Paolo de Marchi submitted a third time and his wine passed; Silvio decided to forgo the third attempt and bottle the wine as IGT (it's allowed to declassify Chianti Classico to Chianti, but this decision must be made by the end of November following the harvest. Past this deadline Chianti Classico can only be declassified to IGT Rosso). On a more consistent note, his submitted bottles for Chianti Classico, with samples from oak barrels, have never had any problem receiving the DOCG.
The curious thing here is that now all sorts of nontraditional grapes – including Merlot, and other non-indigenous types – and barrique treatments are allowed for DOCG Chianti Classico. At the same time a wine made just using Sangiovese and Canaiolo grapes grown in Chianti Classico soils and vinified in the method of older chianti traditions (tank or large Slavonian oak barrels) are deemed "atypical" and are being denied the right to use the Chianti or Chianti Classico name. This is the state of the bureaucracy’s influence on the denominazioni of Italy (it's an even bigger problem in some appellations of France) and how the idea of the DOCG's identity, its "typicity", is being reshaped to a new market-based ideal that has no bearing on the traditions of the region.
To watch a winery and winemaker grow and find their path, the way that Montesecondo and Silvio (with Catalina) have done so well, in a world that holds many differing views of what wine should be and how it should taste, has been one of the great pleasures of our career as importers.
2019 Update:
As with most endeavors, things have evolved for Silvio over the years. Inspired by Elisabetta Foradori, in 2009 a Sangiovese fermented and aged in anfora was released under the name "Tïn" (the name means clay in Arabic). A few vintages later, "Tïn Bianco" was produced from his tiny amount of Trebbiano.In 2013, Silvio started renting an additonal six hectares of Sangiovese. A 30 minute drive from Montesecondo, the vines here are between 20 and 35 years old, growing at 450m elevation, which is very high for this part of Tuscany. They have been converted to biodynamics and currently go into the IGT Rosso, adding even more brightness and complexity to the wine. Silvio is open to making new cuvée with these terroirs once he has familiarized himself with them more.
Silvio Messana Négociant Project:
With the 2019 vintage, Silvio launched a négociant project under his own name."The project was born out of curiosity for working with the same or similar grapes (for example Trebbiano and Vernaccia) but from different terroirs. I felt it would be a learning experience but also for the purpose of establishing long term relationships with growers that would be influenced and eventually benefit (some already are) from my approach to farming and winemaking."
Silvio is currently purchasing fruit from four growers, all of whom are working organically. The focus will be less on terroir (though it will obviously show) and more on highlighting each vintage: sourcing, vinifications and blends will be chosen instinctively each year in accordance with what nature provides. The wines will all be released as Vino di Tavola and not feature their vintage on the label, though it can easily be identified in the lot number.
Channeling the imagery and Arabic names already used for some of the of the Montesecondo wines, each label features a camel (a variation on Montesecondo's iconic crowned toad but also a nod to Silvio's childhood in Tunisia) as well as the word SARF, which translates to "exchange" in Arabic. There is also a slogan written in Italian: "visione scambio contezza":
"Visione = Vision (my vision), Scambio = Exchange (grapes, knowledge, farming methods, winemaking) Contezza = means being aware, informed of."
Having tasted and discussed the wines at length with Silvio, it's evident he is taking the project very seriously as a way to expand both his creativity and the community around him. These are not an afterthought; the 2019's are vivacious, precise and delicious. We're excited for what comes next.
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