THINKING OUTSIDE OF THE CHANNELS.
W.R. Tish: "Perhaps even more important, concept wines are providing a fresh edge of marketability. After two decades of passively allowing wine ratings to infiltrate the retail tier of the industry, sellers and shoppers alike now have a new way to think about the inherently fun, interesting product that wine is."
make no doubt: what's in the bottle counts.
100% genuine, top-quality, vintage dated, terroir driven, lot-selected, estate-bottled, hand-crafted, non-manipulated (NO importer's cuvees, marketing blends or bulk wines masquerading as 'fine wine') wines and spirits from small family producers.
"...don't always go for the Italian wine you know; try the local product. You may make a brilliant discovery..."
- Anthony Dias Blue, the tasting panel, november 2012
6 local italian wines for you to fall in love with. we already did.
more...
- Dan Berger | Press Democrat
#1 | selection
casalegrande. (cru) barbera and bonarda.
it was love at first sip at vinitaly in 1998.
colli di piacentini? where was that?
a trip to the region, a visit to the estate and dinner with the owners at a local trattoria in Vicobarone (population: 435) followed. and many more sips at many more vinitalys... >>>
colli di piacentini? where was that?
a trip to the region, a visit to the estate and dinner with the owners at a local trattoria in Vicobarone (population: 435) followed. and many more sips at many more vinitalys... >>>
#2 | selection
pronto. (real) lambrusco.
san francisco. 1995. fancy food and confection show. a lambrusco producer was pouring his industrial lambruscos between two exhibition halls. we stroke up a conversation.
did i taste anything he was pouring? no, not one sip. why would i drink something a producer wouldn't drink himself?... >>>
did i taste anything he was pouring? no, not one sip. why would i drink something a producer wouldn't drink himself?... >>>
#3 | selection
cefalicchio rosso. (biodynamic) nero di troia. >
puglia. i was on a quest to find a great primitivo. not the type of primitivo one can find at rock bottom prices in every supermarket around the golbe.
the very modern trattoria i stopped at for a short lunch break had a a small shelf stocked with pulian wines that i had never read about with price tags you'd normally expect to see in barolo or montalcino... >>>
the very modern trattoria i stopped at for a short lunch break had a a small shelf stocked with pulian wines that i had never read about with price tags you'd normally expect to see in barolo or montalcino... >>>
#4 | selection
groppolo. (colli di luni) vermentino. >
our ligurian love affair started on a rainy day very late at night in 1992.
to be specific, in a tiny mountain town right in the middle of liguria's ponente, a coastal stretch of land that's responsible for the very best ligurian pigatos.
as you get further away from this particular zone, pigato's style, body and flavor starts to change: turn east and it becomes thinner, harsher. go west and it takes on vermentino-like qualities.... >>>
to be specific, in a tiny mountain town right in the middle of liguria's ponente, a coastal stretch of land that's responsible for the very best ligurian pigatos.
as you get further away from this particular zone, pigato's style, body and flavor starts to change: turn east and it becomes thinner, harsher. go west and it takes on vermentino-like qualities.... >>>
#5 | selection
inside. (terroir) vitovska. >
do we know vitovska! we introduced vitovska to the usa and probably were the first to ship the very first cases of vitovska out of italy.
a restaurant in los angeles, ca, had asked us to to buy 'some'. we ended up with 120 bottles. and that's how we, the us and other importers years later got into vitovska, malvasia istriana, terrano, refosco, moscato, glera, and the italian part of carso. >>>
a restaurant in los angeles, ca, had asked us to to buy 'some'. we ended up with 120 bottles. and that's how we, the us and other importers years later got into vitovska, malvasia istriana, terrano, refosco, moscato, glera, and the italian part of carso. >>>
#6 | coming
naturalmente dolce. (naturally) sweet red. summer 2013.
more to come...