2019 Furlani Sur LIe Alpino Rosato Frizzante

Region: Trentino-Alto-Adige < Italy

Grapes: Pinot Nero

Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Organic/biodynamic farming, clay over schist and broken granite, known as sasso dolomitico, 700m altitude, pergola trained for ventilation, fermented in stainless steel, fermented wine left outside in the snow over the winter to clarify; spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel; frozen must added in the Spring before re-fermentation in bottle; no added sulfur and no disgorgement; 11.5% ABV

Winemaker: Danilo Marcucci and Matteo Furlani

By now you know that we're obsessed with all things made by the Italian wine whisperer, Danilo Marcucci.  Danilo originally got his start in winemaking as a mentee of the old guard of natural winemakers throughout Italy – Maule, Capellano, just to name a couple. After consulting up and down the boot, he met his wife, and transformed her family’s unloved vineyards into the esteemed estate it is today. But, when he first started, he was working only with unknown, unproven small producers already working organically, and Furlani was his first target.  Though the estate is tiny, just 3 hectares of land scattered high in the hills above Trento, at the incredible altitude of 700-720m, he knew the bones were good and that he could help coax the vines into producing something special.  Working with 4th generation “custodian of the vineyards” Matteo Furlani, Danilo brings his zero-intervention philosophy to the biodynamic Cantina Furlani to make a cool line-up of tiny-production, mostly frizzante, mountain wines that are so reflective of that place.  Last summer we were fortunate to visit Matteo at his estate way up the mountains, where he farms grapes on seriously steep slopes, along with cherries and apples.  We tried, and fell in love with, the whole lineup of wines, and now we fight to get allocations of his tiny-production, highly sought after, fizzy wines.

Our favorite last summer in Italy was Matteo's sparkling Rosato, made from high-altitude Dolomiti Pinot Nero done Sur Lie style (a pet'nat hybrid).  Sadly it is always the first to sell out -- but we got 2 cases this vintage!  It's cloudy and dry, with barely-there bubbles and delicate, subtle red fruit, like strawberry-cherry infused water from a bubbling alpine stream.  Yes, it's that clean and pristine and easy to drink, which means a bottle disappears way too fast....