If you know the town of Imola, you likely know it for one thing: speed. This is the home of the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, the legendary Formula 1 circuit where engines scream at 15,000 RPM and history is measured in milliseconds.
But just a few kilometers away from that asphalt temple of velocity, the Navacchia family at Tre Monti is practicing the exact opposite philosophy.
Our newsletter is about wine adventuring—taking you on journeys both far and wide to discover the world's most compelling bottles. We've explored remote hillsides in Sicily, scaled the steep terraces of the Mosel, and ventured into forgotten corners of France. But we have never gone so far (Down Under excepted)—and never gone so far back in time—as in today's story.
You might think that Dominique Lafon needs no introduction. After all, he’s been the steward of his family’s Domaine des Comte Lafon since 1983, and built it into one of White Burgundy’s super-elite producers – only Coche, Domaine Leflaive and the like are peers. And when he bought vineyards in the Maconnais and started his Heritiers du Comte Lafon line there, he sparked a whole movement into the region by top producers – including Domaine Leflaive.
Marie-Lise & Thomas Batardiere are not household names. How could they be? Thomas only farms 3.5 hectares of vines in total! That doesn’t leave much wine to ship to magazines and critics to ask for reviews.
And they don’t need to. Because while they are resolutely under-the-radar, they are also one of the most whispered about producers in the Loire.
When wine lovers think Nebbiolo, they think Piedmont—Barolo, Barbaresco, and the rolling hills of the Langhe. More adventurous wine lovers are also aware of the more mountainous Nebbiolo that is proven north of this region in what is known as the Alto Piemonte. But adventurers can go in another direction instead to find Nebbiolo: towards Lombardy's alpine terrain.
Some wines feel like they slow the clock. López de Heredia was built on that idea. María José López de Heredia often says she wishes she could “freeze time,” and you taste that wish in every bottle: not nostalgia, but the patience to let wine become itself at its own pace.
The French don't have Burning Man. They have La Dive Bouteille. And for France’s nuttiest natural wine fans – and their international comrades in arms – that’s even better. But best of all for us: the driving force behind that fair, Sylvie Augerau, is also a winemaker extraordinaire, and we have a tiny little drop of her wines to share today.
Over the past decade, Cogno has joined the ranks of Piedmont's elite producers. No producer does that without making incredibly delicious wines – and Cogno’s wines are delicious. But no producer gets there just by making tasty wines. It's more than that. And two big things that stand out are clear in the case of Cogno.
Some bottles feel like time capsules. Barrat-Masson Brut Nature Millésime 2012 — in magnum — is one of them. It’s grower Champagne from the deep south of the region, the Côte des Bar, where Kimmeridgian limestone runs under the hills and the climate leans a touch more continental. The style here is all about clarity and farming first; the label says “Brut Nature,” and the wine delivers on that promise without austerity, just a clean, ringing expression of place.
What makes Krug GC so special? There's really no other NV like it. Krug has the deepest library of reserve wines -- made up of some of the greatest wines in Champagne. They were masters of Meunier (the "third grape" of Champagne, which has become the darling of cutting edge growers) long before it was cool. And their chef de cave consistently blended a vast number of wines (like, insanely vast -- 131 in this disgorgement) to make the most perfect, most complete, most delicious Champagne imaginable. On release, delicious; with time in bottle, truly transcendent.
One of the most exciting things about working in wine is being introduced to a new producer and then, in turn, introducing them to you — particularly when said new producer lives up to the hype. A few years ago, we were shown the wines from a tiny, new, organic Abruzzo estate, Amorotti, and we knew we had something special on our hands.
We hate to throw around phrases like “vintage of the century”, but ask 100 wine professionals to pick one for Tuscany, and 99 of them will say 2016. Today, we can offer an intersection of this incredible vintage with the top wine of a true old-school classicist: the Capanna Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2016.
