Italy / Slovenia

Pierini e Brugi (Region:  Tuscany - Maremma): The organic farm Pierini & Brugi is located on  top of a hill, rightly called “Belvedere”, from where you can have a  complete view over the most wild and striking places in Tuscany’s  Maremma.  The farm produces wine, olive oil, saffron and spelt and all  these products are organically grown.  The vineyards are located in the  "Montecucco" denomination and, although that may not sound familiar, its  northern neighbor is the very prestigious Montalcino denomination where  Brunellos are produced.

​

Almadi (Region:  Verona): Artisanal producer of Amarone, Valpolicella Ripasso, Corvina,  and Garganega sourced from family-owned vineyards that have been farmed  for over 100 years.  The deep rich flavors of their wines are from the  very mineral rich soils in the Lake Garda area. 

​

Tre Fattori (Region: Piedmont): The name literally means "three factors" but  "fattore" also means "farm manager" in Italian.  As all of our producers  are great farmers first, the great Nebbiolo fruit grown by the three  families who jointly make the "Tre Fattori" wines then results in  exquisite and fully flavored Barolos and Barbarescos.  I suspect that  the families keep their best fruit for their own wines before selling  the rest of their grapes to more "famous" producers.

Cantine Russo Taurasi (Region: Campania - Avellino): A family estate in the middle of the  prestigious Taurasi appellation in Avellino which produces rich and  fully flavored Aglianicos, Fianos, and Falanghinas.  What I love about  the Russo Taurasi wines is that they let the grapes each year tell them  what "styles" of wines to produce.  The result is very fresh tasting  wines with remarkable flavor profiles and a huge number of food pairing  ideas.

​

Vigne Chigi (Region: Campania - Terre del Volturno): Vigne Chigi is in Northern  Campania about ten miles north of Capua and about 30 miles north of  Naples.  Unique to the area are three very obscure, ancient, and very  interesting grape varietals which are Pallagrello Bianco, Pallagrello  Nero, and Casavecchia.  Despite the similar sounding names, Pallagrello  Bianco and Pallagrello Nero share no genetic traits at all but the  Pallagrello name comes from what had been a tradition of drying the  grapes on straw (paglia) mats before pressing into wine.  The wines  today are made without drying the grapes as both varietals are already  very fully flavored.  Casavecchia has even deeper and richer flavors in  my opinion which makes this very small area in which these three grapes  are grown a very interesting area to find unique wines.

​

De Falco Vini (Region: Campania - Vesuvio): What  is very enjoyable about what I do are the fun discoveries along the  way.  For various reasons, I focus on vineyard areas with a lot of  "minerality" (from soils with high mineral content from volcanic  activity, granite, limestone, and slate) as I find wines from those  areas more refreshing to drink, with more fresh fruit flavors, and also  much more complementary with food and so in southern Italy it was  natural to look for producers with vineyards on Mount Vesuvius.  My  search led to tastings around Naples at four wineries and all frankly  had good wines but I was particularly struck by the quality and  expressiveness of the De Falco Vini wines.

Menicucci (Region: Abruzzo):  In 1970, Antonio Menicucci planted his first grapes  in Ortona, Italy. Three generations later the Menicucci legacy  continues. Menicucci produces a variety of organic hand-crafted wines  that are striking for their expressiveness, fresh fruit flavors, good  balance, and being very food friendly.  Located in the region of  Abruzzo, which is far better known for its robust red wines made from  the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo varietal, I was particularly impressed by  the impressive freshness of their white wines.  There is also a fun and  interesting dark Rose made in the region from Montepulciano d'Abruzzo  grapes which is called Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo.

​

Feudi di Guagnano (Region: Puglia - Salento): Feudi di Guagnano is dedicated to making  world class wines from the indigenous grape varieties of Negroamaro and  Primitivo grown in Apulia in southern Italy.  In 2002 the three  grandsons of the original growers realized that the rich and deep  flavors from both grapes could be made into outstanding aging-worthy  wines that could be as interesting as more prominent Italian wines such  as Barolos and Brunellos.

​

Torre Quarto (Region: Puglia – Cerignola):  Torre Quarto has an interesting history  as in 1847, a French Duke who was traveling through Italy, Duke de la  Rochefoucauld, recognized that the area where Torre Quarto is now  located as capable of producing very high quality wines.  Although I  don't know what caught the Duke's eye, it was immediately apparent from  walking through the vineyards, that are on rolling hills between  Cerignola and the Adriatic Sea, that there is significant volcanic  minerality in the soil.  My following tasting session at the estate was  even more of a positive surprise with the freshness and expressiveness  of all the wines that I tasted.

Cantine Teanum (Region: Puglia – San Severo):  An essential part of what I do is selecting wines at each property (instead of going to trade shows to play "let's make a deal!") and although part of my overall due diligence, there are also delightful surprises along the way.  In my search for expressive examples of native grape varietals, I identified Cantine Teanum in Northern Puglia as a possibly interesting producer in an area where the main native red grape is the very tannic Nero di Troia.  Working with such a grape requires both great insight and artistry in a wine maker and a fun surprise was finding that in Donato Giuliani at the cantina.  Every wine that I tasted was a true expression of the native varietals and the local terroir with its high minerality from its volcanic soils. 

​

Villa Puri (Region: Lazio - Lago Bolsena): Villa Puri is an ongoing family  enterprise of a family that originally settled on the north side of Lago  Bolsena (about 80 miles north of Rome) over 500 years ago.  The current  patriarch of the family's heritage, Vittorio Puri, has transitioned all  farming operations to being organic and all wines are fermented with  only naturally occurring yeasts.  Between the exceptional farming and  natural fermentation, I found the Villa Puri wines to be very expressive  and interesting.  Adding to the qualities and characteristics of the  wines is the volcanic soil around Lago Bolsena which was created from  the collapsed caldera of a very large ancient volcano.

​

De' Notari (Region: Lazio - Colli Albani):  De'  Notari is the "artisanal" wine division of Cantine San Marco, which is a  very successful and respected wine producer in the Colli Albani hills  about 15 miles south of Rome.  While that may sound quite close to a  major metropolitan area, somehow most major cities in Europe have  avoided the ever spreading suburban sprawl that is so common in the U.S.  that gobbles up as much nearby land as possible.  In any case, the  Colli Albani is probably much more suitable for viticulture than for  housing developments as it is rolling hills that are the remains of a  massive ancient volcano.  And so, in my ever present search for  minerally wines, I am very happy to have found this very interesting  producer so close to Rome.

​

Valpanera (Region: Friuli Venezia Giulia): Azienda Agricola Valpanera is  primarily focused on making world class wines from a local red grape  (Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso) which has similar flavor profile to  Cabernet Franc.  But, there is also a delightful surprise from its  growing region - which is that very refreshing, mineral driven, and very  well balanced wines can be produced from many different varietals and  so I've selected of variety of "every day" wines from Valpanera in  addition to an initial selection of one of their Refosco wines.

Vinska Klet Ferdinand (Region: Brda): Vinska Klet Ferdinand is in the unique Brda region,  nestled between the Adriatic sea, the European Alps and the Italian  Friuli, where rolling hills are warmed by the Mediterranean sun during  the day and cooled by Alpine breezes at night.  The proprietor, Matjaz  Cetrtic, is the consummate wine professional applying his meticulous  attention to detail to all aspects of production from his vineyards to  his wine making where bringing out the full flavors of his grapes is his  ultimate goal.