Dacapo "Renard" Grignolino d’Asti, Piedmont, Italy 2023

FROM PIEDMONT WINE IMPORTS:

THE WINE: Hand harvested. After destemming and pressing, grapes are macerated on their skins for 6 days. Alcoholic and malolactic fermentation follows in temperature-controlled steel tanks. The wine then decants till spring, when it is bottled. dacapo age their Grignolino in bottle for additional four months before distribution.

THE PRODUCER: Renata Bonacina is the owner of two small farms, Ca ed Balos (which means house of the naughty boy in Piedmontese) and dacapo. She’s currently consolidating everything into the cellar of the latter property in Monferrato. At Ca ed Balos in the Langhe Bonacina grows Moscato, Favorita and Dolcetto, other grapes (to date all the wines we sell) are grown at dacapo in Monferrato.

Soils at dacapo are a mix of tufo and sandy clay. The vines are spread across four distinct parcels. Barbera is grown in Agliano Terme (around the cellar) Grignolino in a separate parcel (Valle Rotonda) also in Agliano Terme, Ruche in a vineyard called Majoli in Castagnole Monferrato, and Pinot and Nebbiolo in a distinct spot in Castagnole. The small team at these farms cluster thin in summer to optimize ripeness, use ladybugs and other forms of natural pest control, and pick entirely by hand into small baskets.