- Grape(s): Kerner
- Region: Trentino-Alto Adige, Varna
Abbazia di Novacella is a bat-signal wine — it’s a sign to wine dorks that this place is a good place. Kerner is a dry white that has some stone and tropical fruit on the nose, a little bit of that on the palate, but mostly good acid and some minerals. A great and under appreciated grape from a good producer.
- Grapes: Trebbiano, Malvasia, Verdiccio
- Region: Lazio, Rome
From the New York Post in May of 2015:
At Angora in the West Village, a server pours a
wine with a distinct orange glint, like the last rays
of a summer sunset. In a certain light, it could be
mistaken for an easy drinking, easily forgettable
rosé — until you have a sip.
This wine, called Coenobium “Ruscum,” is made at a
nunnery in Lazio, Italy, and its intense aromas and
tastes run to dried pears, sage and hazelnuts. In
place of a rosé’s cheery culpability, this sipper
verges on austere, with a bit of tannin that nips at
your gums, as if it were a red. But Coenobium (Latin
for “convent”) is an orange wine, an ancient style
from the republic of Georgia that’s come into vogue
in modern wine circles.
“This category may be the oldest, but it’s also the
newest category in the Western world,” says Joe
Campanile, wine director for Angora.
While rosés are made with red wine grapes whose skin
is removed early in the process, leaving just a hint
of color, oranges are made in the opposite style. They
come from white wine grapes that are left to macerate
with their skins on, instead of separating the pressed
juices from the skins to preserve clarity and avoid
tannins. The result is a pour with a unique amber hue,
tannins that grip your mouth, and flavors and aromas that
range from musk to mushrooms to orange Creamsicle.
- Grape(s): Albanello, Zibibbo
- Regions: Sicily
Arianna Occhipinti is a young rock-star winemaker from Sicily. Her uncle, the “O” in the famous Sicilian wine cooperative COS, gifted her some vineyards in Sicily near a freeway — the SP68 — growing poorly regarded grapes like Albanello and Zibibbo, aka "Muscat of Alexandria." Occipinti took on the challenge, and this wine is the result. It’s peach, pear, tea and minerals all packed together in a single bottle, the chai of southern Italian wine.
- Grape(s): Chenin blanc
- Region: Loire, Savennières
Savennières is an austere, mineral and stone-fruit beast of a white wine. Often referred to as a “winter white,” Savennières can be dense with flavors of wax, hay and winter fruits all backed by an ever-present acid streak. The New York Times has written several articles about Savennières over the years; it’s a favorite of sommelieres and wine nerds.
- Grape(s): Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot
- Region: Tuscany, Siena
Made from a mix of grapes from “three” different vineyards — Brancaia in Castellina, Poppi in Radda and Brancaia in Maremma. Similarly, the wine now known as “SuperTuscan” comprises three different grapes — the very Italian Sangiovese, the French-by-way-of-Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, and the undoubtedly French Merlot. This mix, while not a traditional formulation, makes for a great red wine. The Sangiovese brings fruit, brambles and tongue-gripping tannins, while the Cabernet and the Merlot bring warmer fruit and softer flavor.
- Grape(s): Frappato, Nero d’Avola
- Region: Sicily
You already know Arianna Occhipinti from above. But did you know she basically single-handedly made Frappatto cool. It's amazing because Frappatoo is a largely-forgotten blending grape mostly used to add a bit of spice to mass-produced anonymous Italian reds. She also did wonderful things for Nero d’Avola, the inky blood-dark grape indigenous to southern Italy. It’s an explosive mix, and it’s the only red wine I keep at least a single bottle of in the house at all times.