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Selva Capuzza, located at the southern edge of Lago di Garda, is a place of both incredible beauty and history. Lake Garda was a glacial formation and the surrounding area has clay soils with lots of stones and mineral salts. It is one the northernmost regions to have a nearly Mediterranean climate, where lemon trees and olive groves abound.

Selva Capuzza takes its name from ‘Silvae’ (meaning wild place) and the Formetini family have been nurturing and protecting this wild place for over 100 years. They regard this land as a unique eco system and farm sustainably, and then some. They place enormous emphasis on the biodiversity of their land to encourage flora and fauna to flourish and no herbicides have been used since 2010. They were amongst the first wineries to track their Co2 emissions and, in the cantina, power is supplied from certified renewable sources and they only use recycled materials and lightweight bottles.

Turbiana is the regions name for the grape that is the same as Trebbiano di Soave and the Marche’s Verdicchio. This is a classic Lugana in its most traditional interpretation: delicate, floral and fruity with notes of hay, grass, citrus and apple with a crisp, fresh finish.

Village wine. Suertes del Marqués village red is a blend of Listán Negro and Tintilia. The style of García’s entry-level red has evolved considerably since the early days. Today it’s a prettier, lighter-bodied and more thirst-quenching wine. The main component remains the wildly aromatic Listán Negro with a small portion of Tintilia, entirely fermented in small tanks with indigenous yeast and a short, gentle maceration.

The name refers to the seven climats in the D.O. of Valle de la Orotava. Today Suertes draws the raw materials from 35 separate plots, from vines ranging from 10 to 100 years old, at a range of altitudes (up to 800 metres) on the slopes of Mount Teide. The Listán Negro is grown mainly in cordón trenzado, while the Tintilia (from the Bocanegra plot) is trellised to the espaldera system. Each parcel begins vinification separately in stainless steel before blending and aging in small concrete tanks (70%) and mature French demi-muids (30%).

We say no to chemicals and grow our vines and olive trees according to the principles of organic viticulture with every agricultural practice being an expression of our deep respect for nature and harmony with our ecosystem. That’s why we started beekeeping with enthusiasm. Our happy bees prove that protecting biodiversity is possible and a duty we take on with pleasure. Laura Rizzotto, Balestri

The quote perfectly sums up Laura’s project. She is the latest custodian of a precious patchwork of organically farmed vineyards and olive groves in the heart of Soave. These culminate with an important holding in the tiny cru of Sengialta (‘Sengio’ in local dialect refers to basalt rock). Soils are dark and volcanic, vineyard exposures are southern and at altitudes ranging from 180 - 300m.

Laura and her partner Federico concentrate on low yields from Garganega and Trebbiano di Soave, with winemaking inspired by a respect for their precious terroir and heritage. This place gives the peak expression of native grapes Garganega & Trebbiano di Soave (the same DNA as Verdicchio from Le Marche). Laura makes some wonderfully contrasting wines: from ‘Libertate’, which is terracotta amphora raised Trebbiano di Soave, to ‘Vigneto Sengialta’, a cru bottling of old vine Garganega and Trebbiano di Soave aged on lees in 20 hectolitre ‘botti’. Balestri Valda’s wines are alive, textured and pure.

Beeswax, pear pulp, yellow florals set off a sense of richness, abundance and the fecundity of Spring. The palate follows suit hitting initially with a ripe orchard fruit bowl creating texture and richness before the limestone cinches the corset and draw the wine back to the centre. This sense of restraint V abundance is further accentuated by a lovely almond clip on the back end. I can see this with anything from soft cheese to scampi. Gorgeous wine. MICHAEL MCNAMARA

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

100% Baga – Chalky clay mid-slopes with eastern orientation to the sun and a very intense Atlantic influence (only 15 km from the ocean). For this wine the grapes come from different small plots of Pato’s oldest vineyards (80 –130 years). These 3 centenary vineyards were purchased already some years ago and are fully converted to biodynamics.

The bunches are handpicked and hand-selected from the centenary vineyards in Bairrada (3 to 4 bunches/vine). Partly de-stemmed, fermented in open oak lagares with some extraction (pigeage). After the fermentation the wine is aged in 500 –600 used pipes and tonel (big cask) for 18 months. Prior to release, the wine further aged in bottle for 2 months.

Chocapalha is the family-owned winery of well-known winemaker Sandra Tavares da Silva, who, with husband Jorges Borges, makes things like Pintas up North. The line-up offers lots of value and immediately rewarding wine.

40% Tinta Roriz, 29% Touriga Nacional, 20% Touriga Franca & 11% Syrah - An intriguing blend from Lisboa region, the Mar de Lisboa wines are a fun range made by the talented Sandra Tavares da Silva. Lovely upfont forest fruit aromas, fine soft tannin integrated with black fruit on the palate. Great to share with friends and you can enjoy this red with or without food.

Red. Organic. To be contre-pied is to be diametrically opposed to something. In this case, this carbonic Duras is the opposite of the rustic, sleepy wines associated with this variety (and plenty of Gaillac rouge in general). This wine originates from a block of clay/limestone soil in Cahuzac-sur-Vère. The winemaking takes in a short carbonic maceration followed by six months aging in concrete tank.

Florent Plageoles told us that he felt that Duras grapes would take to the Beaujolais treatment, et voila, Contre Pied has now become a mainstay of the Plageoles roster. Expect crunchy acidity and thirst-quenching satisfaction—sappy red fruits, invigorating and tensile acid and soft grainy tannins surround a plump, cherry-like weight. Hints of dark chocolate and spice round out the steely skeleton. In short, a super delicious and unique carbo-styled red.

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

Sara’s tribute to “youth, tenacity, love and Grenache”. Who can argue …?
Organically grown on a 10 hectare plot of degraded granite (Montsant’s only gravel patch), Dido has been in production since 2005. The blend is 86% co-fermented Garnatxa-Syrah (1/5 is Syrah, which helps the local Garnatxa ferment better), with 7% each Cabernet and Merlot. It’s picked early, and needs to be largely de-stemmed, so the fermentation takes place in two parts. A 15% portion is used as a starter – whole bunches take wild yeast and are covered with sulphur for 8 days. This is then released into the balance of the fruit, de-stemmed and un-sulphured, and away we go. After fermentation in old hogsheads, the wines are long-aged, more than 18 months – a first year in large raw concrete and then a further 6 months or so in large Foudre of 5000 litres.

Bright and fresh red cherry fruit marked by mint and other local herbs, the wine shows the clear crunch of granite soil. Juicy and direct with macerated herbs, licorice and briar in lovely pastille fruit. Good concentration, rich-but-not-sweet country wine, it's all briar-herb-cane-brambly, with a nice little nudge of spice, allspice husk and leather in the soft savoury juice and a touch of chocolate in the soft leathery tannin. Clear and direct, with absolutely no wine-making clutter, it is delicately structured and savoury. A smasher!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

The 2016 Amarone della Valpolicella is a sleeping giant, darkly alluring with dried violets, dusty black currants, shaved cedar and lifting hints of mint. This is sleek and cool-toned in feel-lifted yet intense and savory to the core, with masses of mineral-tinged dark red fruits and balsamic tones carried across a core of zesty acidity. The 2016 finishes tannic and long, clamping down hard on the palate and leaving a bitter primary concentration that lingers on and on. This is just a baby today and in need of serious cellaring, yet the potential is off the charts. Marco Dal Forno explains that he considered selling the 2018 before the 2016 to allow it to come fully into focus, which he already did with the 2017. (98) ERIC GUIDO

Inky in the glass with almost no rim. Aromas of cloves, coconut, graphite, dark lush bramble fruit, plums and cherries. Full-bodied with great concentration of fruit and a super-dense and velvety palate. Extremely rich, but balanced by crisp acidity and thick yet dynamic and chewy tannins. Amazing finish of salted chocolate. A superpower Amarone with grace. Try from 2026. Will age for decades. (98) JAMES SUCKLING

Released after the 2017 vintage, because it was decided that this dense, concentrated vintage would benefit from more time in the bottle, the 2016 is fuller and broader in the shoulders compared to the 2017 Amarone. There's more of everything - body, concentration, tannic presence, richness, spiciness...And while there's a reductive note of petrichor, its aromatics still soar, carrying wafts of wild black fruits and balsam out of the glass. Enticing already, its future looks very bright indeed. (98) DECANTER

The 2016 Valpolicella Superiore is intense, with a captivating bouquet that blends cedar shavings, savory herbs and balsamic spices with rum-soaked cherries, sweet lavender and dark chocolate. This sweeps across the palate with silken textures, delivering masses of tart red and black fruits along with hints of espresso bean. Crunchy mineral tones and zesty acidity add dramatic lift. The 2016 tapers off long and staining, sporting a pleasantly bitter tinge of cocoa as grippy tannins resonate. The 2016 is a well-muscled dancer yet still youthfully coiled. (95) ERIC GUIDO

Dense garnet color, full of polished aromas of balsamic, cedar wood, earthy minerality, licorice, leather, restrained bramble fruit and coffee grounds. Dry, full-bodied and velvety on the palate, with lifted acidity and an austere finish. Long, slightly chocolatey aftertaste. (96) JAMES SUCKLING

The new release for 2024, 2016 is a much anticipated vintage from Dal Forno given that the 2017 was released first. But it has needed the extra time in bottle: export manager Marco Pinna explained that production volumes in 2016 were compromised by hailstorms in 2015. This had the result of naturally reducing yields and lending even more concentration than usual to the wine. Darker and richer in aroma compared to the 2017 Valpolicella, it clings on to a nutty, reductive character, with wisps of mint and fenugreek. In the mouth it's fleshy and powerful; less vertical than the 2017. There's a slightly meaty touch to the ripe, concentrated red and black berries, lifted by floral notes of iris and violets as well as crushed rock and exotic spices. Voluptuous black cherry emerges towards the end, but this still feels quite tight and closed; the best is yet to come. (97) DECANTER