Pierini e Brugi - OC, NF (Region: Tuscany - Maremma): The organic farm Pierini & Brugi is located on top of a hill called “Belvedere”, from where you can have a complete view over one 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.

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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. 

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Ca del Bric - OF, NF, NAS (Region: Piedmont - Monferrato): Ca del Bric is in the Monferrato region of Piemonte and is a great example of the entire "eco-system" that I look for at each of my suppliers.  Giuseppe Ravera, the proprietor of Ca del Bric, starts with purity in their organically farmed vineyards where all activities are focused on enabling the healthiest and most natural soils possible for the vines.  Such very healthy vines and vineyards then produce very healthy and pure fruit that is naturally fermented for a pure expression of both each varietal and the terroir.  Giuseppe's meticulous attention to detail then enables the wines to be bottled with no added sulfites at all.

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Josef Brigl - (Region: Alto Adige - Sudtirol): I love the refreshing minerality from "mountain wines" where vineyards benefit from the additional mineral complexity of decomposed rocks in the vineyards as opposed to soils of clay and sand.  And so, Alto Adige with its almost sheer sided valleys between cliffs of granite and limestone was definitely high on my list of an area to find wines.  My own focus on authentic and expressive wines was then fulfilled when I tasted the wines of Josef Brigl in the area.  The winery was actually founded 700 years ago and so they have quite a bit of history in the area!  The current generation at the winery is led by Josef Anton Brigl whose dedication to his family's heritage has resulted in the highest quality viticulture in their estate vineyards throughout the area and in state of the art winemaking facilities to preserve the freshness and authenticity of their estate grown fruit.

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Janna e Mare - (Region: Sardinia - Alghero): Janna e Mare is small winery on the northwest shore of Sardinia and there are very interesting saline notes in the wines from the sea air that is always in the vineyards.  The name itself means "door of the sea" in a Sardinian dialect.  My perspective is that the vineyard locations open the door to very expressive wines!  The winery was founded in 2022 by three oenologists who heard about that some very high quality vineyards were now available due to a very well-respected grape grower in the area planning his retirement.  The oenologists jumped on that opportunity and have created remarkable and terroir driven wines.

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​Cantine Russo Taurasi - OF, NF (Region: Campania - Taurasi): 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.​

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Vigne Chigi - OF, NF (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.

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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.

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Torre Mora - OF, NF (Region: Sicily - Etna):  From reading local Italian wine blogs there were almost mythical mentions of a brilliant winemaker with some amazing vineyards near Rovittello.  But, in a world where almost everything is on the internet, was there any mention anywhere of even an address?  And so, in my travels, I set out to find Torre Mora.  I first drove back and forth through Rovittello twice without seeing even a hint of anything.  But, when I was almost ready to give up I saw a rough hand painted sign that said "Torre Mora" on the right side of the road.   Always up for an adventure, I drove in to find the very intriguing Beppe who is the winemaker and estate manager.  In the two Torre Mora wines selected, a 100% Carricante Etna Bianco and a 100% Nerello Mascalese Etna Rossto, I feel that Beppe's brilliance has fully expressed both varietals and the terrain where the grapes are grown.

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Terre di Giurfo - OF, NF (Region: Sicily - Vittoria): In my search for outstanding vineyard locations in each region, that led me to Terre di Giurfo in the Sicilian region of Vittoria, which is in the southeastern corner of Sicily and is centered around the city of Vittoria.  But, the vineyards around the city, and which account for most of the production in the region, are on flat, dusty, and what can be very hot farmland as opposed to parts of the region with more hills further away from the city.  At Terre di Giurfo, which is in rolling hills about five miles northeast of Mazzarrone and which is about 15 miles north of Vittoria, I found wines that had more freshness and expressiveness than other wines that I had tasted in the area. 

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Santa Venere - OC, NF (Region: Calabria - Cirò): The spectacular hilltop setting of the Santa Venere estate is around 1,500 feet above the Ionian Sea that is only a few miles away.  The vineyards are in Calabrian scrub land terrain that along with its ancient sands are the foundation for the estate's very expressive wines.  Adding to the quality of the wines was the decision made in the late 1990s to convert the entire estate to organic farming and the property has been certified as organic since 1999.  The family heritage of the property is also impressive as the same family has owned the land since the year 1600.  Giuseppe Scala is the current head of the family managing the estate and its modern form was created by his father Federico in 1960 with the start of winemaking instead of selling the grapes each year.  

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Menicucci - OC, NF (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.

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Le Pigole (Region: Abruzzo):  Le Pigole is a "local wine" that is produced by one of the leading independent vineyard owners in Abruzzo.  The producer sells most of his fruit each year to internationally known Abruzzo wineries whose Montepulciano d'Abruzzo wines sell for $25 to $30 a bottle in the US.  This cuvee is made for the producer's local friends who own restaurants and I discovered it one night in a restaurant in Pescara.  As opposed to a lot of the heavily tannic wines that are a tradition in the area, this very food friendly wine is made in a much more approachable style.

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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.

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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.

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Villa Puri - OF, NF (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.

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De' Notari - OC, NF (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.

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The Vinum - OF, NF (Region: Abruzzo and Tuscany): The Vinum is an interesting project of an inspired young winemaker, Roberto Dragani, whose original family roots are in Abruzzo and whose vineyards are farmed organically.  I originally selected the wine of very interesting local white grape from Abruzzo (Cococciola) that is produced in his family vineyards.  Roberto's family also has vineyards in Tuscany and Piemonte and so he produces wines from those regions as well.  A second selection from The Vinum is a delightful and expressive Chianti. 

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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 - OF, NF (Region: Brda - Slovenia): 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.

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