2021 I Pastini Valle d'Itria Bianc 'Faraone' IGT Puglia Bianco 

2021 Terre Nere Etna Rosato 

HALF BOTTLES Ben Ryé offers an extraordinary rich bouquet with outstanding aromas obtained from the dried grapes: apricots and candied orange peel. It presents delicate hints of Mediterranean scrub (maquis). The palate is very fresh and intense,...

PRIMA Notes: One of the first times I visited Napoli, I was with Chef Peter and a few others guys from the PRIMA team.  One Sunday afternoon we discovered, at the top of narrow staircase in one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods, one of the...

Importer's Notes:  Ciro Biondi's family has owned vineyards on the southern side of Mt Etna since at least 1800, and first sold bottled wine under their label a century ago. The modern iteration of the Biondi winery started in 1999. Ciro...

Importer's Notes:  Ciro Biondi's family has owned vineyards on the southern side of Mt Etna since at least 1800, and first sold bottled wine under their label a century ago. The modern iteration of the Biondi winery started in 1999. Ciro...

PRIMA Notes: One of the more interesting projects we’ve come across is Emiliano Falsini’s.  Falsini is a Tuscan native who studied winemaking in Florence and had winemaking stints in Bordeaux, California and New Zealand before starting a...

Winery Notes:  Donnafugata Lighea has a bright straw yellow color with greenish hues. The nose offers a rich and fragrant bouquet where the classic notes of orange blossom are combined with citrus hints (cedar and bergamot) and exotic fruit (lychee)...

Winery Notes:  Masseria Li Veli is one of the top Apulian estates in terms of quality of the products and brand recognition.  The brothers Edoardo and Alfredo are the current managers of the estate with the collaboration of their cousin...

Importer's Notes: Straw yellow in the glass with an elegant nose that is delightfully fruity featuring white peach, nuts and white flowers. In the mouth its flavor is rich, soft and fresh with a long and persistent finish. A great...

PRIMA Notes: We told the story of Luigi Tecce several weeks ago when we received our small allotment of his incredible Poliphemo ($99.99), Tecce’s bar-raising mico-production Taurasi Riserva.  It was $100 but, for anyone who has ever had a...

Mattariga is a Vermentino di Sardegna DOC obtained from 100% Vermentino grapes cultivated on calcareous soil, on hills at 250 m asl, with good temperature excursion, which helps to preserve aroma. Low yields per hectare and careful winemaking produce...

2020 Valle d'Acate Il Frappato, IGT Terre Siciliana 

Vinous Media: The 2019 Aglianico del Vulture Titolo is stunning. It opens with a bit of an exotic flair, mixing smoky plum and lavender with animal musk, crushed ashen stone and a whiff of sour citrus that lights up the senses. Then it enters the palate...

Importer's Notes:  100% Aglianico from young vines in the Renonno cru, 400-450 meters above sea level,  Calcareous clay soils of volcanic origin, aged 18 months between barrique and large cask

60% Nero d'Avola, 40% Frappato Certified Organic, Sourced from estate vineyards in the hamlet of Bastonica in the Vittoria area. Red soil of medium consistency; made up of subalpine sands composed of limestone and silica.Hand-harvested...

100% Grecanico sourced from the estate Fontane vineyard. Fermentation lasting ten to fifteen days in amphorae on the skins with indigenous yeast. The 2019 remained in contact with the skins for a little over one month in amphoraAged in amphorae for...

Winery Notes:  Winemaking: destemming full grapes and medium maceration of several days, with daily pumping until the racking, fermentation in stainless steel wine.  Maturing process: in French barriques for 11 months by 30%, the remaining...

Certified OrganicWine made from grapes grown without synthetic pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides in the vineyard. Certified in the country of origin. Tasting NotesFrappato from the Vittoria area of the island that was aged in concrete vats after a...

  I would never say that I am against ‘natural wines’ per se, but I am against bad wines that call themselves ‘natural.’ It’s sort of depressing that there are so many weird ‘orange’ wines out there...

Winery Notes:  The winemaking tradition of the Russo family has been handed down from father to son until today. Towards the end of the 1800s the great-great-grandfather Vincenzo Russo dedicated himself, together with the family, to the cultivation...

Wine Spectator: 94 PointsA lovely, layered red, offering baked strawberry and cherry fruit accented by graphite, chartreuse liqueur, leather and citrus peel aromas. Vibrant and minerally, with creamy tannins and a subtle streak of tarry smoke echoing on...

Importer's Note:With wine making in his family blood, Vito Lauria decided to attend the University of Udine in Friuli where he obtained a degree in Enology in 2003. After stepping off the campus he worked at a number wineries in northern Italy for a few...

Blend:Aglianico 80%Piedirosso 20%