Coming on the next container are a few new wineries:
VENETO
(non-certified organic)
Lower yields than are typical for the zone. Attention to detail. Bottling only when it is called for to keep the wines fresh. 100% Glera. Reborn in 1990 with an eye towards making the best wine instead of making more wine, this small estate excels at making wines that give you all the pleasure that you expect from Prosecco and just that little bit more. When I tasted them at VinItaly this year, they surprised my palate and excited me. This was something truly special. After being out of the American market for some time, it may seem like they need another "Rinascimento" here in California.
VENETO
(certified biodynamic)
I met Franco Masiero and his wife Francesca at a winer fair in Verona a few years ago and we hit it off. He is an outsize personality and she is as charming as he is brash. They farm just a few hectares of Merlot and Pinot Noir on volcanic soil at about 1600 feet in the middle of nowhere in the forest of Trissino in the province of Vicenza. They only produce one wine right now, made from 100% Merlot and they are 100% biodynamic and they don't use any sulfur at bottling. Native yeast fermentation, no temperature control, unfined and unfiltered . . . this wine is truly a wine that has no interference from the winemaker, except the choice of not making any additions to the wine at all, which in an of itself, is an intervention of philosophy. But every time I smell this wine, I am transported to another place and time. They make so little and they are so much fun that I had to have the wine in the portfolio.
