2016 Orsi San Vito Pignoletto Sui Lieviti

Region: Emilia-Romagna < Italy
Grapes: Pignoletto (97%) + tiny drops of Albana and Riesling (3%)
Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Certified biodynamic farming; limestone soil, no added So2; unfined/unfiltered
Winemaker: Vito Federico 

Federico Orsi works in the pretty hills outside of Bologna, where he’s farming biodynamically (certified even), on rocky limestone soils. The Pignoletto grapes (native to the Emilia-Romagna region) are from a small 50-year-old vineyard, unirrigated and completely unadulterated. Frederico gives it two weeks of maceration, then it spends four years on the lees. This is not technically pet’nat, as it undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle (which is kicked off with the must of the same vintage—common practice among the natural wine crew in Emilia) and bottled with the remnants of fermentation happily clouding the wine. It’s bone dry and puckery, with dry peach, citrus and apple, a core of electric acidity and a slightly coarse, rustic texture, like that cool Pendleton wool blanket flanking the bed at hipster hotels.