Portfolio

Wines

Wholesale: Our complete portfolio is distributed throughout California and New York. Upon request: WA, NV and HI. All of our selections are imported in 20' (turned-on) reefers. No exceptions. Even Lambrusco.
Retail: We can legally ship throughout CA, directly to consumers in NV and you can receive our selections via any NY retailer. Unfortunately, that's it. Sorry, we don't make these "consumer friendly" laws.

Pronto: True Lambrusco

La Bella & 4 Stati

Colli di Luni Vermentino 'CM'

Hugh Johnson (2013): "This is by a margin Liguria's most exciting Vermentino."

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Malbo Gentile

Image by: Undiwine

This grape variety was originally grown in Liguria, mostly between Carrara and La Spezia. In Liguria it was known as "Amabile di Genoa."

In Emilia it became a blending grape for Lambrusco (up to 15%) to give Lambrusco concentration and a floral scent.

However, "pure" (100%) versions, both dry and sweet, have always been produced - mostly for local consumption - by a few producers in Emilia.

We are proud to import one of the best dry 100% Malbo Gentile wines into the USA.

This wine was produced by Marcello and Gianpaolo.

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Lagrein, Schiava, Kerner

"Franz is knowledgeable, competent, likeable and very well-know. He started up in 1982, when he inherited the farm, along with some of the best, most classic wines in the Bolzano area. The estate is situated on the slopes of striking Santa Maddalena, north of Bolzano, and produces very typical wines, headed by the wine name for the Santa Maddalena hill. Franz is a master at producing Santa Maddalena and his base version and cru are consistently among the best." - Gambero Rosso, 2011

Annual production: 40,000 bottles
Hectares under vine: 6
Viticulture Method: Conventional
6,667 bottles/ha

Lagrein 2010

We introduced the very first Lagrein to the USA. Though I've tasted every important Lagrein made in Alto Adige over the last 25 years, this estate continues to make one of the most 'drinkable and enjoyable' Lagreins. Sure, there are a couple of other magnificent Lagreins that get the highest scores in guides - but have any of these with food and you won't be finishing your first glass. This producer's Lagreins (normale and riserva) have always impressed me because they are not made to impress wine critics at marathon Lagrein tastings.

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Santa Magdalener Classico 2010

Schiava / Vernatsch
"It is hard to find tastier Santa Maddalena wines..."
- Gambero Rosso 2011

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Florian's (Franz's son) first official white wine:

Kerner 2010

First US release - and what a great one!

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Verdicchio, Marche Rosso

"Corrado Dottori is an unusual winemaker, cultured, passionate and stubborn. He is also a great writer. His works mix economy, sociology, holism, agronomy, and rock music with a vision he applies to his own life. He lives with his wife and children in a corner of paradise, his agriturismo just below the hermitage of Romita di Cupramontano at the edge of the forest of Frati Bianchi. The vineyards and cellars are in the other direction, in the exceptional vineyard of San Michele. Corrado's wines are more spontaneous than anything else on the shelf today." - Gambero Rosso, 2011

Annual production: 10,000 bottles
Hectares under vine: 3
Viticulture Method: Organic
3,300 bottles/ha

Corrado Dottori

Verdicchio 'Terre Silvate' 2010
"Great Verdicchio is the other great white Burgundy." :)

"Castelli di Jesi. Wine district in east-central Italy, in the foothills of the Apennines some twenty miles from the Adriatic port of Ancona, which produces one of the lightest, most popular and best white table wine of Italy. This is made from the Verdicchio grape in some half-dozen villages of which Cupramontana is the most important; it is usually exported in a special, slender, amphora-like bottle, and often sold simply as "Verdicchio." Dry, pale, with a freshness and breed rare in white wines from so far south, it deserves its international acceptance and increasing fame."
- Frank Schoonmaker's Encyclopedia of Wine, 1978

2011: There might be just one or two wineries left that still bottle Verdicchio in these gimmicky bottles. Actually, Verdicchio can be light, medium or full bodied (like Corrado's 'Gli Eremi'.) What's fascinating that Verdicchio is still not "famous" and known around the world! In order to fix this problem the Mache region is now (after 33 years) trying to 'link' Verdicchio to 'Sauvignon Blanc' because through fermentation manipulation it is possible to create Verdicchios that smell like Sauvignon Blancs. Now, how stupid is that?

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Verdicchio 'Gli Eremi' Riserva 2009

WSJ: "There are certain restaurants — and certain sommeliers — that are consistent sources of great wines I’ve never encountered before. One of my favorites fits both categories: New York’s Marea...

I dined at Marea a few days ago with a friend who was celebrating a big-ish birthday; we were looking for a big-ish white wine (on account of our menu choices, not my friend’s age). I considered the 2007 Roger Sabon Châteauneuf du Pape, as my friend and I both love Rhône wines.

“That’s certainly big,” Richard confirmed. “But I have something else you should try — a wine that I’m crazy about.”

The wine was the 2006 Gli Eremi Verdicchio di Jesi Classico Riserva from La Distesa. “I’ve never heard of it before,” I said to Richard. “No one has,” he replied, adding that it was a tiny-production Verdicchio from a small but highly-regarded estate. It’s rich but possessed of a firm minerally note, said Richard, like a Cru Chablis. I was happy to follow his lead.

The Gli Eremi was as Richard had described it: unctuously rich yet tempered by a bright and penetrating minerality that was, indeed, an echo of a Grand Cru Chablis. And most importantly, it complemented our food — even the intensely-flavored fusilli with grilled octopus in a red wine sauce that my friend ordered. I want to go back to Marea right away — to drink another bottle and to eat more of chef Michael White’s fabulous pastas. But time is tight; according to Francesco, the six cases they ordered is just one. It seems that word about Gli Eremi is getting out."

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Marche Rosso 'Nocenzio' 2009

Snapped up hot off the boat by SF and NY restaurants.

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Vermentino

"In the early 1980s, when electronic engineer Pierlugi inherited land in the hilly area north of Sarzana, and returned to his old passion of making wine, he could have never imagined that this would become his sons' main activity. With help from their mother Maria Antonietta, Davide and Alessandro have led this estate winery to the top of the wine making tree in the Luni area." - Gambero Rosso, 2011

Annual production: 55,000 bottles
Hectares under vine: 10
Viticulture Methode: Organic
5,500 bottles/ha

Vermentino 'Groppolo' 2010

"Beautiful crisp and delicious Vermentino from Sarzana (Colli di Luni, inter-regional DOC with Liguria and Tuscany). The kind of wine you could down 3 bottles of before you know what hit you."
- Di Vino Tours

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