The Life of a Wine Explorer
For almost anyone that works in the US in the wine industry, calling 2024 as a rocky road is an understatement. Wine sales are down this year, compared to a previous year which was also down y/y. It’s a time of reckoning begging many questions for those that either run a wine related business or work in wine.
As our founder, Sheila Donohue ponders the challenges being faced, she was at a wine tasting dinner with fellow wine explorers in New York City. It was an evening filled with fun and tasty exploration of different types of wines and olive oils among a group of wine loving friends that hadn’t seen each other in a while. While some were life long friends, it was wine, as the magnet that brought the group together. Wine has that effect: it brings people together. This wine tasting in her hometown is what inspired Sheila to tell her story. How wine has brought meaning and joy to her life.
Sheila Donohue in her hometown during her year of sabbatical in 2017 when she contemplated a move from banking & technology to wine.
New York is Where The Story Starts
New York was where Sheila first got into wine. That’s where she grew up, and it was thanks to some friends she met while in her 30’s that got her to start appreciating wine.
Sheila comes from a 2nd generation 100% Irish family that did not have wine as part of its culture. Her first introductory to wine was wine coolers although she got tired of the sweet taste and switched to beer as her main drink of choice in her 20’s, with an occasional cocktail, and, yes, a shot or two here and there.
It wasn’t until she turned 30 and started to date a guy from a 2nd generation 100% Italian family that she started to learn about wine. Not surprisingly, he grew up with wine around the house and lived at the time with his brother, a foodie and wine afficionado. Living in a family and household with wine as part of their daily meals allowed him to assimilate a culture of wine, which Sheila was influenced by as well.
Then she got invited on a trip to Napa with her sister and friends and had a ball. She then got to know some of the main producers making primarily Chardonnay and Cabernet, and started to look for them afterwards in New York area stores.
Moving to New York City in her mid 30’s, she started to get invited to social gatherings with wine tastings as a theme. She remembers asking her friend Marianna who frequented many wine tastings “what’s a Super Tuscan”?…. (Funny, Sheila continues to ask herself that question to this day...) Nevertheless, she enjoyed the combination of meeting and engaging with others while tasting and learning about wine all at the same time.
At this point, Sheila was super curious about wine, and started to read about wine when the opportunity presented itself. But, Sheila was in need of a crutch: having almost no exposure to wine until her 30’s, and almost no wine knowledge, she clung to almost anything that could help her to learn more. She knew quite well that the world of wine is vast and complex whereby what should be a simple decision of “what wine to buy” could actually be quite complicated.
This was the late 90’s when there was not a lot of wine resources out there. The de facto standard resource at the time for a novice to learn about wine was the Windows of the World Wine book; then those who were super serious to learn would take the course on top of the infamous Twin Towers at the World Trade Center.
She became a regular reader of the Wall Street Journal wine column, and similar sources, clipping out articles about wine regions, types of wine, wine vintages, wine reviews, etc. Then she would bring the clippings with her to the local wine store and try to find the specific wine cited in the article. Once or twice she lucked out finding it, but 99% of the time the store would not have the wine, and she was back to having to somehow decide what wine to buy.
Then that fateful day, September 11th 2001 came. She was downtown on Wall Street, 1 block away from the World Trade Center, when the terrorist attacks happened. Thankfully, she made it home safely to her apartment in the Upper West Side that night, only to find out that her roommate’s dad, who was responsible for evacuations in the World Trade Center, was missing. That night was the worst ever, with the sounds of army trucks going up and down Broadway keeping her awake most of the night.
She awoke the next day to a phone call from Italy. It was the hiring manager of a company in Bologna Italy with whom she interviewed for a job in her area of expertise, credit risk management technology. The manager trepidly spoke, asking if she was OK. Then, he offered her a job to work with his firm, which required transferring to Bologna. Not knowing at that time the future of the world as she knew it, she asked for some time to assess and made a decision.
A month later, she accepted the job and packed up and moved to Italy.
Italian Seeps Into the DNA of this Irish Girl
While settling in her new job and life in Bologna, Sheila was fortunate to have made friends quickly, most of whom were Italian. That would seem obvious, but, often, when a native English speaker moves to a city in a foreign country they gravitate towards expat, native English speaking groups of friends. With Bologna being a secondary city in Italy with, at least at that time, very few foreign tourists, 90% of her friends were native Italians.
Sheila Donohue with friends enjoying one another’s company at a get together in the beautiful countryside of Umbria Italy.
While getting to know her Italian friends, she was like a sponge, picking up on all sorts of tips, tricks and traditions, many of which involved wine, food and cooking. She also traveled to different parts of Italy, often as a guest of her Italian friends visiting their families around Italy and started to partake in Italian traditions like the aperitivo. Her fascination with the people, sights, architecture, history and varied culture of Italy grew and grew.
Slowly Sheila starting to pick up on “real Italian” cooking habits, like:
instead of following a recipe “to the tee” when cooking, leaning on her instincts to improvise a dish,
using olive oil instead of butter in her cooking,
learning the difference between a “just OK” extra virgin olive oil and a really good extra virgin olive oil and then keeping a really good EVOO on hand at all times to use as a finishing touch on top of dishes, like fish, vegetables, pasta, as well as on pizza,
when cooking pasta, to never serve it right after draining but instead to mix it in with the sauce and have it further simmer in the pan so the pasta soaks up all the sauce before serving.
After Sheila’s first wine course at Enoteca delle Lame, Sheila got to know most of the wine shops in Bologna, like here at Enoteca Italiana.
Slowly But Surely, Mastering Wine
When it came to wine, she was initially bowled over by finding decent wine for less than 2 euros in the supermarkets in Italy… (Mind you, this was 2001-2002. Don’t assume this now - high inflation, especially recently, has also hit Italy.)
Nevertheless, for the quality of the wine she was getting for the inexpensive price, it was easy to get accustomed to having wine with every evening meal, as well the big, drawn out lunches which Italians often have on the weekends. After a while, though, she found her palate getting tired of her usual go-to supermarket wines and was getting more and more curious about other wines she’d see out and about socializing, and at wine bars and restaurants.
Her boss suggested a new wine store at the time, Enoteca delle Lame, near their office in downtown Bologna. They were known for having an interesting array of different types of Italian wines, a curated selection of their own, while also at reasonable prices. Sheila remembers the first time she walked into the store and being warmly greeted by the 2 sisters, Daniela and Romana Lugli, that owned the wine store. They became inquisitive about Sheila’s interest in Italian wine and found an opportunity to help Sheila learn and discover the vast world of Italian wines, with over 500 native grapes and thousands of appellations, all with rich histories and traditions behind them. They started to recommend more well known types of wines, like Lambrusco, Prosecco, Moscato d’Asti and Montepulciano wines but they would be from a small, lesser known Italian winery, instead of the supermarket wines she was accustomed to. Then they introduced Sheila to lesser known wine grapes like Pecorino and exceptional wines, like Barolo, from small producers that were hard to find even in Bologna, and different styles like orange wines.
Every time that Sheila would go to the store, she would walk out with a different type of wine. After Sheila became a regular, it seemed that the sisters would acquire wines thinking of Sheila specifically. Then, the moment Sheila would enter the store, Daniela would jump to her feet, and excitedly share the news about the latest wine they added to their portfolio. As Sheila started to taste these different grapes and types of wine, she shared her finds with some of her fellow expat friends in Bologna who also were interested in learning more about Italian wine. Then, they too started to frequent the store.
At one point, an idea came to Sheila and Daniela, a certified sommelier: why not organize a wine tasting course on how to evaluate and taste a wine? Daniela liked the idea and Sheila and her friends were her first students. Sheila not only learned a lot, taking copious notes and understanding the basic methodology and technique for wine tasting, but she also had a lot of fun with her friends (to this day, her and her friends still laugh about discovering cat pee aroma in wine.)
This woman, Daniela, didn’t know that she was influencing a woman who would ultimately change her career and life to center around wine.
Sheila Donohue with her Association of Italian Sommelier (AIS) outfit and tastevin.
Life as a Wine Professional
Sheila started to meet Italians who had deep knowledge and passion of wine outside of the Enotecas, wine stores and restaurants in Italy. They were colleagues at work, friends of friends, etc. Several had attended sommelier school to become certified sommelier / wine experts. The Association of Italian Sommelier (AIS) came most highly recommended, so in 2006 she started to pursue the certification.
She enjoyed learning more about wine, wine and food pairing, Italian geography, history, traditions, wines around the world, winegrowing, winemaking, giving scores to wine, even olive oil, beer and spirit knowledge and tasting. One big challenge though was that the course was in Italian.
Let’s say that she did not catch everything being said. To become an AIS Sommelier is like taking a mini-Masters with the courses lasting about the length of a semester in college. It was at the beginning of the 3rd “semester” course that she found out there will be a comprehensive test at the end, from multiple choice, to written explanations, to verbal exams and wine tasting exam… all in Italian!
When she started to study and went through her notes over the past 2 years or so, she would come across words in Italian she didn’t know. Then she’d ask her Italian friends what they meant and sometimes they didn’t eve know themselves the meaning of a word. That’s when she knew she was in trouble! At this point, she knew she was going to have to cram hard for several months.
These Italians who attended this Wine Mingle in Bologna in 2009 were delighted to discover the American tradition of wine glass charms.
This was in 2008. Thankfully the Google Search engine had just become main stream. Let’s say that Sheila was a loyal beta tester of it while trying to make heads or tails of her copious notes and all that she learned over the past 2 years in the intense sommelier course. The exam was very difficult, especially the written portion during which she ran out of time (hey, what do you expect from someone new to Italian taking an exam in Italian?...) She was pleasantly surprised and super excited to have passed on the first try!
While still working in banking and technology, she started to organize wine tasting events in Bologna, Wine Mingles as she called them. Her impression was that Italians were a little too serious about wine and needed an event that mixed socializing with wine appreciation and tasting. The events were a hit, although with a full time job and career in credit risk management, Sheila realized that if she were to seriously pursue a career in wine, that she would need to re-arrange her job and life to have more time to dedicate to it.
Then, unbeknownst to her, the opportunity would fall in her lap in 2017. She started that year without a job and her life being a “blank sheet of paper.” While she did not explicitly immediately choose to change her career to wine, she started to put together a puzzle: she wanted to
help small businesses
innovate
have a job and life where she could start coming back to the US without leaving her new adopted home in Italy
most importantly, provide value add to the US market leveraging her experiences and knowledge she gained in Italy.
Realizing that most of the wine producers that she knows who are small, people farming their own vineyard and driven by passion and tradition, were not yet present in the US market, she would start a company that would be focusing on new wines and foods to discover, while also allowing a platform and service to facilitate learning and discovery.
Think of her idea as a portable version of Enoteca delle Lame which brings hard to find wines all across America AND combines that with the hands-on approach to lead you to wines you will enjoy, just like sisters Daniela and Romana did with Sheila in Bologna 20+ years ago.
So, Sheila went on to start Vero in January of 2018.
Let Us Lead You On the Road to Discovery
Since Sheila started Vero, we have continued our focus on authentic, sustainably made, wild and scarce wines and foods. Consider us like the farmers market of wine: a safe place to get to know who made the farm-to-glass wine and olive oil that you see, where it is from, how it was made and what makes it special. Learn more about Sheila’s approach to find hidden gems of wine and olive oil in this article.
We sell to businesses and consumers around the US, from distributors, to licensed retail, wine stores and on premise, restaurants in certain states.
For those wine explorers and corporates who do not have our products at their local store, we sell online and ship across the US:
We don’t want you to struggle with wine discovery like Sheila did. We have a free Somm at your Service whereby a sommelier / wine expert is just a Zoom or phone call away.
Check out our hand curated wine gift baskets which is a great way to get to know our selection of hidden gems of wine and EVOO which make for great gift ideas.
Put your wine exploration on auto pilot with our award winning wine club with monthly or quarterly wine subscription box options.
We love helping you to organize wine tasting events, and olive oil too. We help you pick the theme and we take it from there. Virtual events work well also, especially with your clients and colleagues are spread around the country. We do the heavy lifting and ship the wine individually to each person.
And you can always contact us with any inquiry.
We look forward to continuing this road to discovery together for years to come. Keep on top of Vero news by signing up for the Vero newsletter.
Some rare & unusual wines and olive oils that Sheila uncovered on her explorations
Sparkling wine
With a persistent perlage, a bright gold color lights up the glass as complex exotic fruits and citrus aromas burst forth. Tasting, it is a dry wine with a delicate balance of acidity and sapidity keep you sipping and enjoying until the last drop.
The volcanic soil of the Sandro de Bruno vineyards lend well to this ancient, yet up and coming grape known as Durella. With a thick skin rich in polyphenols, they expertly craft this grape in a sparkling wine using a classic Champagne method. A zero dosage, for 36 months the wine rests on the lees before dégorgement and it then rests again.
It is markedly less intense than its 60 month aged and 100 month aged counterparts, creating a great entry point to the durello grape. You can try all three of these wines for yourself in the Durello Flight Set!
Tastes Like: Limes and Green Apples
Farming & Winemaking Highlights: Sustainable Winery | Volcanic Soil | Bottle Fermented | Champagne Style
Fun Facts: - “Linear and polished” is how Kerin O’Keefe in this Wine Enthusiast review describes this 95 point wine.
This is an unfiltered sparkling wine made similar to the champagne style from a rare grape called Boschera, native to Veneto, Italy where there is less than 20 acres in the world! We were the first to import this grape into the US!
Compared to the Prosecco grape (Glera), Boschera is more complex, and in fact this wine has been aged for over 3 years in the bottle on the lees.
With 2 days of skin contact giving it a deep yellow color, this native yeast fermented natural wine is then refermented with its native lees and then undisgorged, so it is unfiltered and continues to age on the lees too, allowing it to become more complex over time.
You can say it is a vintage & aged ancestral method, or Pet Nat style, also called Col Fondo in Italian since it is on its lees. It has herbal, nutty and yeasty aromas and savory taste with a long saline finish. Pairs with many foods & throughout the meal, from appetizers to main course.
Made from the rare Uva Tosca grape, which grows in higher altitudes in Emilia and is believed to be a descendant of Schiava Grossa, the Alto Adige red grape. Technically a rose wine, it is more like a light red, which looks and tastes like drinking cranberry juice as a sparkling wine. Refreshing and quaffable, with strawberries on the nose and a saline finish, it is great on its own or with light fare. While this grape does not impart much color, 2021 was a dry year, producing more concentrated fruit and color. It is naturally fermented and sparkling 'col fondo' ancestral, or pet nat, style wine.
White Wine
A rare find, this Famoso is made with fruit from the original vineyard of the Montalti farm in Monte Sasso where the Famoso di Cesena varietal was re-discovered in 2000 when two rows of old vines were found by a local farmer.
It is semi-aromatic with has aromas of lemon and a hint of flint, it has laser-like acidity, with tangy citrus fruit flavors and herbs, great texture and a lemon mineral finish. Limited production of 5000 bottles / yr
What other sommeliers are saying about this wine:
Ruth Ryberg:
“Wow is this cool! A grape I haven’t had before called Famoso! If it was a blind tasting I would’ve called out Chablis for the searing acidity and the chalky finish. Yum! The nose is all fresh picked apricot and lemon spray, with subtle hints of honeysuckle and marzipan. A zippy zesty mineral on the finish comes right back round to apricot and lemon! Lip smacking and fresh. Just perfect.
I’ve mentioned Braschi before. It’s a small, family owned winery in Emilia Romagna, and has been under the same ownership since 1949. Everything they make is outstanding! Located along the ancient Roman road - Via Romea Germanica - just north of Tuscany, Cantina Braschi is nestled in the hills of Romagna. The wines are first class from this family owned, small producer.”
This natural wine is delicious fruit-forward organic vegan white wine, a blend of hard-to-find native varieties from the province of Macerata in Le Marche, Italy, a hilly area just to the east of Tuscany not far from the Adriatic Sea, has it all, great nose, taste, texture and structure. While it is unoaked, it was on the lees for 6 months with weekly battonage, contributing to its complexity of aromas, ranging from melon to saffron, and intensity of flavors. Made with indigenous varieties from Le Marche, Maceratino (also called Ribona) and Incrocio Bruni 54, it is a testament to Le Marche white wines.
Quercia Scarlatta follows a minimal intervention approach to vegan winemaking, using native yeast fermentation in their wines like this Marchese Japo.
Made from 100% Turbiana (considered similar to Verdicchio), this unoaked white wine from the sought after Lugana wine region has a bright yellow color, a natural balance of acidity and fruit with a textured mouthfeel and a long finish. It has inviting aromas of honeysuckle, tropical fruits, caramel and a hint of basil. Think of it as an alternative to an unoaked Chardonnay, since turbiana is also a noble white grape. Plus Zamichele’s terrroir with the influence from nearby Lake Garda and mineral rich glacial alluvial soil provides the conditions for creating a complex and balanced white wine.
Orange Wine, Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Red Wine
Cloudy mandarin orange color late harvest Sauvignon Blanc natural wine from one the best places in the world for Sauvignon Blanc leads to a saline and yeasty nose with a bit of lemongrass notes. It has laser-like, linear acidity and is super tasty, with great fruit and salinity. It is a 'meaty' orange wine with nice mouthfeel and slight tannins. This Sauvignon Blanc is from the Sudsteiermark region of Austria in South Styria.
This skin-contact orange wine is crafted with native yeast fermentation by certified organic and biodynamic Austrian winery Michi Lorenz.
From the hills of Abruzzo near the Adriatic Coast of Italy, comes this Organic EVOO, or Extra Virgin Olive Oil, farmed and made by the Febo family. Farmed sustainably and organic, this natural extra virgin olive oil is also vegan and, like all evoos, a first run - cold press olive oil, the best kind of olive oil for you.
The 2024 harvest is still made from a blend of olives like leccino and 500 year old trees, but now it is mostly the dritta cultivar.
Farming & Winemaking Highlights: Regenerative Agriculture | Sustainable Farming | Biodynamic | Vegan | No additives | Unfiltered | Organic
Fun Facts: The dritta cultivar is a rare one being saved by Davide Febo who is trying to save and rehabilitate it.
Made with 100% Montepulciano grapes spanning family vineyards in Spoltore and Chieti in Abruzzo, it has aromas of amarena cherries and licorice and a slight funkiness thanks to its 100% natural production. It tastes of dark fruit, with a rich texture and slightly bitter finish, with the funky vibe continuing while tasting. Fermented and refined in the winegrower's grandparents' concrete vessels.
Region: Italy > Abruzzo > Spoltore & Chieti
Tastes Like: Dark fruits
Farming & Winemaking Highlights: Regenerative Agriculture | Sustainable Winery | Biodynamic | Native Yeast Fermentation | Vegan | Organic | Natural Wine
Fun Facts: Pairs nicely with chicken parmesan. | While there is a famous wine “Vino Nobile di Montepulciano” from Tuscany, this grape has no connection to it; the “montepulciano name” there comes from the town noame, where as here in Abruzzo “montepulciano” actually refers to the grape used to make the wine.
Red Wine
This mother-daughter winery keep hitting home runs with their ‘experimental’ one acre vineyard of dolcetto on a mountaintop in upper Ojai, California, which started with an idea they brought back with them from Piedmont Italy over 10 years ago. Their super small production Dolcetto experiment is a success, backed up with back-to-back gold medals on their 2019, 2020 and 2021 vintages, and then winning Double Gold and Best of Class in the International Womens Winemakers competition.
The 2020 vintage produced only 23 cases and was aged for over a year in neutral oak. It is fresh and juicy with rich wild berry cassis-like taste. It's an approachable yet complex with a mineral-saline finish. And now, coming off of their wins in 2019 and 2020, Ojai Pacific View has now released the latest edition of their California Dolcetto, the 2021 vintage.
Overall, the wine is a dark purple color, the nose is complex with a mix of plum, herbs, flint and vanilla spice. The fruit and terroir of this old world new world dolcetto red wine that really stands out, thanks to the high altitude and marine fossil soil of this wine estate in upper Ojai.
Here is what other sommeliers are saying about this wine:
Sommelier Marc R. Kauffman:
“Fine wine from Southern California! Italian varietals have been attempted in California with some successes and some not so good examples over the years. The 2019 California Dolcetto from Pacific View Vineyard and Winery is a stunning success! Darkly brooding in the glass, aromas of cedar, spice and vanilla offer a promise of seriously complex wine. Dark cherry and blackberry flavors mingle and dance in your mouth. The tannins are smoothly integrated, and the finish is so smooth I did not want it to end! Harmonious is the one word I would use to describe this wine. This is the third vintage from a very small plot of Dolcetto grapes growing high above the Pacific Ocean in a secluded spot north of Los Angeles. Available only in limited quantities direct to consumer or to a few select restaurants it is well worth the effort to search it out.”
From the Thaya estate winery in the Czech Republic, this single vineyard 100% Saint Laurent, which is called Svatovavřinecké in the Czech language and is a descendant of pinot noir, is from the U Chlupa vineyard with dusty loess and clay soils and which is in a national park. It has an inky deep purple color, a pretty nose, of violets, milk chocolate and spice. It is fresh with chaulky tannins, dark fruit taste, a harmonious and balanced wine. The wine was made naturally and fermented with native yeasts. It aged for 18 months in oak barrels of assorted sizes and types of toasting. It’s what’s called a “beefier Pinot Noir.”
This limited production wine from the birthplace of the Schioppettino varietal is made only in the best years with carefully selected fruit from which Hilde Petrussa makes her own Pied de Cuve native wild yeast. Aged in tonneau for 36 months then 6 months in the bottle. It has a complex nose ranging from black pepper to dark berry compote, allspice and some wild animal fur. Due to its well balanced acidity, tannins and smooth taste, it is a great midway for both Pinot and Cab lovers.
This wine was awarded
a Silver Medal by Decanter
Top Italian Wine in the Go Wine Cantine d'Italia 2024 Guide
90 points by 5starwines
4 crowns by 'Vini Buoni Italiani'
Vigna Petrussa is a certified sustainable and biodiverse women-owned winery.
This wine is a rare treat, being one of the very few Sangiovese red wines grown on volcanic soil. This natural wine is a complex yet approachable. Tarconte is a distinctive old world style natural red wine with a touch of new world, having been aged for 36 months in oak barrels. Notes of earth, mineral, herbs, black pepper, it is super juicy with ripe tannins, a real food wine. A good pairing is with rosemary Asiago cheese. Don't be in a rush to enjoy it: open it and see how it evolves!
Tastes Like: A Baking Spice Cabinet
Farming & Winemaking Highlights: Regenerative Agriculture | Sustainable Winery | Biodynamic | Native Yeast Fermentation | Vegan | No additives (ie non sulphites added) | Unfiltered | Organic | Metodo Corino | Natural Wine
Fun Facts: - The natural farming method that produced this wine, the metodo corino, is actually patented by La Maliosa woman winemaker Antonella Manuli after she helped to develop it with natural wine legend Lorenzo Corino of Case Corini.
- Named after an Etruscan mythological hero.
You never had a Barbera like this! Made from 95 year old Barbera vineyard, with some small percentage of other varieties planted over the years in the vineyard. This all natural wine has intense aromas of brandied cherries and a richly textured, delicious dark fruit taste with right balance of fruit, acidity and tannins. Barla is the antique name of the vineyard which used to be the land of an old convent. After a gentle crushing, fermentation starts with native yeast fermentation and wines are left with skin contact for 6-7 weeks, followed by about 36 months of aging in wooden barrels, housed under Lorenzo Corino's family home.
As with all of Case Corini wines, this is a 00 wine, nothing added, nothing removed, no yeast, no sulphites added, organic, biodynamic, vegan. In other words, all natural wine.
Made from the sought-after Ginestra Barolo Cru, this single vineyard wine epitomizes the greatness of the nebbiolo grape from the Barolo wine region, in terms of structure, age-worthiness and fruit expression. The native yeast fermentation used in making this natural wine also helps bring out the special and sought after terroir of the Ginestra cru.
An intense garnet color, on the nose this Barolo tends towards red fruits, with a touch of balsamic notes. As it opens on the palate the elegant tannins harmonize with the acidity for an overall richness that creates a pleasant and enjoyable experience while sipping alone or with food.
Tastes Like: Balsamic Tabacco leaves
Farming & Winemaking Highlights: Biodynamic | Native Yeast Fermentation | Single Vineyard
Fun Facts: The Ginestra cru is very limited and only a few wineries have access to harvest from there. Aldo can thanks to his wife’s, Valentina’s, Conterno family vineyards.
Fun Facts: The hands on the bottle represent Aldo’s two daughters; for this reason he often says this is the wine closest to his heart.
Sweet Wine, Dessert Wine
“Can we make Brachetto popular, please?” is how VinePair headlines why this artisanal, aromatic red sweet sparkling wine, just recently imported by us first time to the USA, made it to VinePair’s list of 13 Best Sweet Wines.
An aromatic grape, brachetto, creates a pleasantly slightly sparkling sweet red wine, with delicate rose flower and strawberry notes and strawberry and hibiscus taste. ‘Susbel’, in the local Piemontese dialect of Ivaldi in the Monferrato, refers to the location of the vineyard of this Brachetto d’Acqui, where the sun is bright and well exposed.
Left four days in contact with the skins and fermented with native yeast, this natural wine has a bright and clear light red color, dotted with fine effervescent bubbles. Sipping, the immediate impact is indeed sweet, yet with enough acidity and a hint of tannins to create a harmonious and balanced wine that keeps you coming back for more.
Wonderful to serve slightly chilled to sip with friends in the backyard on a hot summer day, or to serve with fruity desserts. Try pairing it with cheese, like with Humboldt Fog goat cheese - it goes incredibly well. It can also pair with charcuterie. Made with native yeast fermentation and has a residual sugar of 120 g/l.
A certified sustainable winery, Ivaldi Dario practices regenerative farming.
“Run, don’t walk to find and grab this bottle. It is a prime example of the harmony and complexity this style of wine is capable of expressing” is how VinePair describes this wine in their list of 13 of the Best Sweet Wines.
Fruity, spicy and balanced, this multiple award winning women-made dessert wine, Picolit, is the rarest and most treasured varietal in Friuli, the extreme North East of Italy.
It is made from hand-picked and air-dried picolit grapes that went through noble rot, as with the best dessert wines in the world. Fermented and then aged for 18 months in french oak barrique. Only 1200 bottles were made, and we have the last few available so be quick to grab this meditation wine to sip and savor.
Vigna Petrussa is a certified sustainable and biodiverse women-owned winery.
This Caluso Passito dessert wine made from 100% Erbaluce grapes is produced only during the best vintages, and exclusively in those extraordinary ones, a small part is reserved to Caluso Passito "Riserva". Aged for 10 years in casks and 4-6 years in bottle, only 1000 bottles are made per vintage. It is sweet, fresh and sapid with delicate floral notes.