Natural Wine

Wines from this tiny Galician gem are always on our heavy rotation list. Alberto Nanclares and Silvia Prieto take Albariño to to the very highest place. Through meticulous winemaking they channel the soul of Rías Baixas, its sandy, granitic soils, and their place on the Atlantic coast of northern Spain into their tiny winery infusing their wines with startling intensity. While other winemakers in the region de-acidify their Albariño, Alberto and Silvia fully embrace that acid. The bright, vibrant energy of their wines is unmatched. Dandelion is 100% Albariño, wild-fermented and aged on its lees for 7 months. The wine is alive, saline, and delicious. It smells and tastes of lime zest, wet cement, honeysuckle and ripe asian pear.

Alberto and Silvia honor and protect their vineyards in a way that resembles the reverence and respect one might show a group of elders. Their winery is not much bigger than a walk-in closet. What they manage to capture in that small space is a sort of mystical connectedness to their homeland that should be (and is) the envy of every winemaker working to connect their wines to a place.

Vincenzo de Meo, also called Enzo, makes jewel-toned natural wines in Abruzzo, on the Adriatic coast of Italy. The Vento D’ Estate is made of 100% Passerina grapes, which is part of what makes Enzo’s bottling so interesting; Abruzzo doesn’t often stray from its core varieties, Montepulciano and Trebbiano. Passerina is a white grape that’s been attracting more attention recently, but that can still qualify as a hidden gem.

Cascina degli Ulivi continuously produces surprising, purely biodynamic, and downright delicious Piedmontese wines, and this “Semplicemente” made with Cortese grapes is no exception. A departure from their highly structured, age-worthy bottles, this wine is fresh, fun, and ready to drink now, with notes of crisp fruit and sea breezy minerality.