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Great, but not Fancy: No Es Pituko's natural bargains

Great, but not Fancy: No Es Pituko's natural bargains

The wine name, "No Es Pituko," is Chilean slang for "it ain't fancy" – and that tells you exactly what these wines are about.

Sure, they're made from rare, ungrafted, pre-phylloxera vines that the Echeverria family has farmed since 1923. And yes, the farming is biodynamic and the winemaking is natural. But there's nothing pretentious here. Just pure, natural wine from hand-harvested fruit, fermented with wild yeasts and bottled without fining or filtration. Even the price is as far as you can get from snob appeal.

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Stylized image of Pierre Gonon Saint Joseph Rouge 2022

Gonon: The Bucci of St. Joseph?

It’s tempting to keep this article short because people will buy this wine almost no matter what we say here. But we are here to educate as well as to sell, so we thought it would make sense to take a couple of paragraphs to remind everyone why it is that Gonon is so well loved.

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Stylized image of Valravn Pinot Noir

Valravn Pinot Noir: New Wine Economics?

For years we’ve heard your complaints, and we’ve done plenty of the same sort of grumbling ourselves. Yes, we love California artisanry, and we think it is a huge improvement over industrial production that has long dominated – and still dominates – our state’s wine industry. But those artisanal wines are so expensive! Yes, most of us are happy to spend $30, or even far more, for a great bottle of wine. But what about something simple and inexpensive? Do we really have to turn to industrial concerns to provide them?

No we don’t. There is just starting to emerge a new class of wine in California that may be the most exciting of recent trends.  New wineries with true artisanal spirits are making everyday, affordable wines. One of the best we’ve come across is Valravn.

Why aren’t there more Valravns out there? Probably, it’s because producing wine this good for such a low price is really hard. It takes a force of nature. Someone like proprietor Baron Ziegler, the kind of guy who bought Bordeaux futures when he was 15 and then flipped them for enough profit to make his first real estate purchase. Baron already had several wine projects behind him (he started Banshee for example) before he founded Valravn.

Their 2023 Sonoma Pinot Noir is a shockingly good under $20 value. It delivers juicy fruity freshness with an undertone of Pinot “earth”. It’s the kind of simple, joyful wine that makes up a big part of day-to-day life in European wine regions (think Dolcetto) but that is just not a big enough part of our culture here. 

We are so happy that, just maybe, it’s becoming a thing:

Valravn Sonoma County Pinot Noir 2023 - $19.99

 

This story was originally featured in our newsletter, where it was offered at a special subscribers-only discount. Subscribers get special offers, the first look at new discoveries, invites to events, and stories about wines and the artisans that make them.

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Stylized image of Serafino Rivella Barbaresco Montestefano 2020

Serafino Rivella: Great Terroir plus Great Techniques

It’s easy to understand why everybody who loves Piedmont is so excited by Serafino Rivella’s Barbarescos. 

First of all, it all comes from Montestefano, the great Cru in the commune  of Barbaresco where Teobalda and Marta Rivella grow 100% of their Nebbiolo. The Cru is special because its vineyards point straight south and there is a concentration of limestone in the soils that is higher than anywhere else in Barbaresco. The result is dark and brooding Barbaresco that is long lived and easy to mistake for Barolo.

The tradition is pure Piedmont, to the point that a noted UK wine professional once said: “imagine if Maria-Theresa Mascarello [of Bartolo Mascarello] made Barbaresco, it would taste like that!”. There are long macerations, Mascarello-style, followed by up to 40 months of aging in huge neutral casks.

Add to tradition and terroir one final ingredient: laser focus. They make only two wines, a Dolcetto, and today’s Barbaresco – all from vines that were planted around 60 years ago.

Today’s 2020 is not just a great Barbaresco, but also a nicely approachable one. Like many 2020s, there is a freshness and an openness to the wine that makes it just so appealing. But don’t worry, there’s still plenty of Montestefano burliness and depth to carry the wine for years and even decades in the cellar. 


Serafino Rivella Barbaresco Montestefano 2020 - $119.99
"The 2020 Barbaresco Montestefano is gorgeous. Sweet scents of pipe tobacco, spice, dried herbs, mint, leather and crushed autumn leaves all grace this exquisite, super-classic Barbaresco. The 2020 offers a beguiling mix of the slightly oxidative character that is typical here with bright Nebbiolo acids that add a counterpoint. The 2020 can be enjoyed now with aeration. A bottle tasted that had been opened 24 hours in advance was nicely softened, while a freshly opened bottle showed a bit more nervous energy. The overall flavor profile was pretty similar. 94pts" - Antonio Galloni (Vinous)


This story was originally featured in our newsletter, where it was offered at a special subscribers-only discount. Subscribers get special offers, the first look at new discoveries, invites to events, and stories about wines and the artisans that make them.

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Stylized image of Domaine Michel Gros Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits Rouge Saint Martin 2022

Michel Gros: Where the Reasonable Cellar Began

The historic Burgundy figure Jean Gros had numerous children. Under French law, property is divided equally among one’s offspring. So Jean had a problem: each child would inherit a parcel of Burgundy that was too small for efficient wine production.

Jean had a solution to this problem: the Hautes Côtes de Nuits.

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Challao: Seeking One’s Fortune in Rioja

Challao: Seeking One’s Fortune in Rioja

In fairy tales, there are often young men who go out to seek their fortune, a sack on their back. Sometimes, in the world of wine, it happens in real life. This is the story of Manuel “Manu” Michelini.

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Stylized image of Radikon bottle

Radikon: The Superstar Friulian Producer Like None Other

Back when the less adventurous voices of the wine world confidently proclaimed that Georgian wine would "never" be a thing, that Movia was "too weird" and skin-contact white wine was "too niche" (seriously), we already knew Radikon was something special, authoritatively defining an emerging category. And as we've watched orange wine's popularity skyrocket, with producers around the world crafting their own versions to varying degrees of success, Radikon has never, ever let us down.
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Stylized image of Eric Rodez Champagne

The Eight-Generation Perfectionist of Ambonnay

In Champagne, everyone talks about their "mastery of blending." But few take it to the level of Eric Rodez. After eight generations in Ambonnay and a stint as chef de cave at Krug, Rodez doesn't just blend different vintages and varieties – he maintains 15 separate perpetual reserves (like a complex sourdough starter, but for Champagne) to create layers of complexity that seem impossible.
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Stylized image of Domaine Vincent & Francois Jouard Chassagne-Montrachet Vieilles Vignes 2022

Jouard: Fall in love with White Burgundy Again

Every now and then, we drink wine that makes us remember why we first fell in love with white Burgundy. No, we’re not talking about a Corton Charlemagne or a Batard Montrachet. It is no mystery that those wines are great.

We’re talking about village white wine from one of the great Chardonnay villages of the Cote d’Or: Chassagne Montrachet.
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Stylized image of Arnaud Lambert bottle

Arnaud Lambert: Chenin and Cabernet from a Revolutionary

Brézé is a heralded name for lovers of Chenin Blanc. It was also the name of a Chateau, the Chateau de Brézé. It’s a Chateau steeped in history, dating back to 1060, and now containing life-size depictions of medieval life that are of much interest to art historians and anthropologists.
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Vereinigte: Older Wine, from an Old Old Winery

Vereinigte: Older Wine, from an Old Old Winery

Today, we are pleased to offer Vereinigte’s Riesling from Scharzhofberger. It is 2011, so now has the benefit of 13 years of bottle age. Anyone who knows this style of Riesling knows that it can age, “eating” the sugar and resulting in a balanced, finely etched wine. It is so hard to source mature white wine, so don’t miss these opportunities when they come up:
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Stylized image of Granbazan Rias Baixas Albarino Etiqueta Verde 2023

(More) Real Albarino from Granbazan

One look at the labels of Granbazan and you know you’ve found something distinctive. Open a bottle, and you know you’ve found something authentic. The wine has lovely fruit, yes, but it's the crisp berries, apples, and pears of cool-climate white wine, not the tropical flavors of warmer climates. The wine is infused with the fresh minerality that you would expect from older vines planted in excellent terroir: rocks and minerals, precious jewels.
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