2020 Cascina Gasparda ‘Vulp’

Region: Piedmont

Grapes: Cortese, Moscato Bianco

Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Biodynamic farming; marl and white limestone
soils; direct press, aged in fiberglass; no filtering or
clarification; no additions of any kind, including So2; zero-zero; 41
cases; 12.5% ABV

Winemaker: Roberto Salvaneschi

NEW VINTAGE!  The Salvaneschi family has been making wine for 3 generations, but it wasn’t until 2010 that they decided to produce their own label and actually sell it.  In 2013, Patritzia and Pietro Salvaneschi purchased the Cascina Gasparda farmhouse and its 7 hectares of vineyards, which they run with the help of their sons Roberto and Mauro.  They also set up a farmstay that can accommodate 20 people with a family philosophy of eating and preparing what they grow - “zero food (and wine) miles."

For the family,  everything starts with respect, health, and rhythms
of the natural environment as well as the respect and health of those
who will walk through their vineyards and are nourished from the
products of their land.   Roberto is honest when he says to live as a
winemaker you have to want it and it has to come from within - it
cannot be approached just as business or because it’s in fashion.
Wines that are purely business lack soul. As a boy he disliked
viticulture, probably because it was an obligatory weekend job and not a choice at the time. But the connection to nature was always there for him and he was lured away from a technical design job and back to the vineyards when his family acquired the property. Roberto’s key principle is  safeguarding and preserving the soil for future generations. He’ll never wax on and participate in fake
storytelling...he’ll only ask that you walk the vineyards and explore
the wines to truly understand their unique expression.

In 2018, the family acquired the Cortese vineyards to produce the Vulp (translation: fox), and this is certainly a foxy little wine, with possibly the cutest label ever.  Crisp and clean, with bright autumnal flavors of honey, Golden Delicious apple, rocks, acorns, and a resiny thing that recalls pine needles, Vulp is the quintessential fall white.  As with most Italian wines, it is meant for food, but works with almost anything - cheese, veg, lighter meat dishes, and of course the holiday buffet spread.  And while it is easy enough to share with Aunt Sally (and she'd probably dig it), you might want to stash a bottle for your own secret Thanksgiving day sipping.  Just saying....