Click the link to read about this month’s club!

This month, we are kicking off the new year by bringing you the annual full box from Small Vineyards as our yearly allocations just arrived! We know you are going to be just as excited as we are and have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of these hidden gem wines!

Tenuta del Cavaliere Verdicchio Dei Castelli Di Jesi Classico Superiore: $25

(Carefully curated notes below are taken from the Producer’s Website)

Varietal: 100% Verdicchio

Winery: Marchetti Wines

Location: Marche, Italy

Drink or Cellar? Drink now or cellar for cellar for a year

Some tidbits:

Maurizio Marchetti makes one of the finest Verdicchio Classico’s we have ever laid our taste buds on. So, when he introduced this micro-production, old vine rendition, we were immediately intrigued. This free-run wine is layered, lush, and sophisticated, taking advantage of an extra month on the vine to develop greater structure and depth of fruit. It is deftly made, with fresh pear, melon, and an overall honeyed flavor profile that still retains its beautiful acidity.

Tasting notes:

Beautifully expressive, concentrated, and complex, this delicious white wine offers up alluring and exotic notes of apricot, white peach, yellow plum, ginger, and assorted spices that lead to its classic almond finish. Despite its rich and extroverted personality, it retains wonderfully refreshing verve and acidity.

Food pairings

An ideal white to enjoy with spicy stuff, vegetarian fare, and firmer, oilier fish and seafood, it’s also a fabulous aperitif.

From Them to You!

The company, founded in the last century, is family-run. Today it is owned by the heirs of Doctor Mario Marchetti and is managed by his son Maurizio, and continues, with modern and safe technologies, the ancient tradition of the Marche winemakers. The Conero DOC district , at the gates of Ancona, is located on a coast known and praised for its climate and its environmental suggestions, as well as for the Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico . In these happy wine-growing micro-regions, the Marchetti company was born and developed, over the generations, characterized by a great wine-growing vocation and notable wine culture, still fueled by the impulse to know and update on products and markets.

Source:  https://marchettiwines.it/

Monte Tondo Soave Classico 2023: $19.99

(Carefully curated notes below are taken from the Producer’s Website)

Varietal: 100% Garganega

Winery: Monte Tondo

Location: Soave DOC, Veneto, Italy

Drink or Cellar? Drink now or cellar for cellar for another year

Some tidbits:

What Gino Magnabosco and his daughter, Marta, are doing with the Garganega grape is nothing short of amazing. Working with a patchwork of hillside crus, Monte Tondo is a true family affair that is on the cutting edge of white winemaking in Italia. This Soave is bristling and clean, flinty and fragrant, with terrific notes of granite, citrus, green apple, and ripe mango. A truly wonderful, clear-headed, single estate wine.

Tasting notes:

Exotic stone fruit, hazelnuts, and slate; Generous yet unoaked, with unique minerality; Mouth watering, complex, persistent finish

Food pairings

Ideal With Appetisers, Fish Dishes, Shell Fish And White Meat. Makes An Excellent Aperitif.

From Them to You!

In almost every way, the small, family operated estate of Monte Tondo sets itself apart. Contrasting the large coops which dominate the Soave Classico region, Monte Tondo represents the true artisinal minority: not only are their wines low yield, single estate and picked by hand, but in lieu of grapes grown in the vast alluvial flatlands, Monte Tondo’s whites hail from various crus on the hillside above the town, each complete with its own unique soil profile. These sites in turn allow Gino Magnabosco and his daughter, Marta, to create tiers of Garganega-driven whites with a remarkable array of personalities. Their Soave Classico, for example, comes from vines growing halfway up the slope in a pocket of clay and limestone, lending the wine its bright-eyed structure and telltale minerality. From even higher up the hill, the single cru Slavinus and Casette Foscarin both derive from volcanic soils, possess a big-boned structure usually reserved for oaked whites, and promise to age beautifully for 5-10 years.

Source:  August Imports; https://www.montetondo.it/eng/wine-cellar/vino-montetondo-soave-doc-classico 

Antonio Sanguineti Morellino Di Scansano 2022: $23.00

(Carefully curated notes below are taken from the Producer’s Website)

Varietal: 95% Sangiovese, 5% Alicante

Winery: Antonio Sanguineti

Location: Tuscany, Italy

Drink or Cellar? Drink now or cellar for cellar until 2026

Some tidbits:

Antonio Sanguineti has a flair for making classic wines that appeal on all levels. He respects tradition, but always adds his own touch, making rich, enjoyable wines that either his father’s generation, or his son’s, would enjoy. His Morellino is a great alternative to Chianti, it is a true value for such a serious wine.

Tasting notes:

His Morellino bursts with ripe cherry, fresh cracked pepper, sage, and ocean brine. Its taut structure supports a long, slightly smoky finish; and it’s perfect with fish, tomatoes, even spicy chorizo.

Food pairings

Fish, tomato-based pasta dishes, chorizo

From Them to You!

A Tuscan through and through, Antonio Sanguineti began crafting wine at age sixteen on his family’s farm near Siena. Today, he’s known on both sides of the Atlantic as an energetic producer with a true zest for life. One of our two partners in Italy, Antonio has been woven into the fabric of August Imports for the past twenty years.

Having worked both as a winemaker and a consultant to dozens of producers over the course of his career, Antonio Sanguineti knows more about wine – and specifically Tuscan wine—than just about anyone else we know. His long list of mentors and partners reads like a virtual who’s who in Italian enology. Among them are giants Carlo Ferrini, Stefano Chioccioli, and Franco Bernabei. None had a greater influence on him, however, than the legendary Giulio Gambelli. “He was Tuscany,” says Antonio, and it’s true. Having completed a remarkable 61 vintages and advised the legendary Biondi Santi estate (including their immortal 1955 vintage of Brunello) Dr. Gambelli was arguably the most influential winemaker of his era. Antonio, therefore, was extremely fortunate to grow up in Dr. Gambelli’s presence. During the 1970s and 1980s, the enologist was a fixture on the Sanguineti family’s estate, visiting every week to help perfect their Chianti Classico. Antonio, who started his formal training with Gambelli at age 16, recalls with pride, “we were winning every type of prize and score back then.”

Source:  August Imports; https://www.augustimports.com/brands/antonio-sanguineti/ 

Barbera Del Monferrato Gusti Tacchino 2017: $20.00

(Carefully curated notes below are taken from the Producer’s Website)

Varietal: 100% Barbera del Monferrato

Winery: Tacchino

Location: Piedmont, Italy

Drink or Cellar? Drink now or cellar for cellar through 2025

Some tidbits:

Juicy and traditional, this European-style Barbera was crafted by Romina Tacchino, best known for her Tre Bicchiere Dolcetto d’Ovada DOCG. Grown in a natural amphitheater, her vines enjoy higher altitude and a vein of white tufo, adding to the wine’s backbone. A host of sub-alpine fruit graces the nose, poised against a backdrop of warm earth and smoke. Following the bright, layered fruit of the palate, some firm tannins make an appearance, book-ended by a fresh, food-friendly finish.

Tasting notes from the Producer:

Cherry, black raspberry, red forest fruits, summer earth, and smoke; On the palate, Bright, traditional acidity, with tart cherry, pomegranate and crunchy red cassis

Food pairings

Veal, pork, poultry, pasta, and venison!

From Them to You!

Meticulous, thoughtful, and full of joy, Dolcetto masters Romina Tacchino and her brother Alessio work side by side in the high, green hills of Alto Monferrato. Subtle, subalpine aromatics tend to belie complex, powerhouse palates bursting with flavor. And with multiple Tre Bicchiere awards now under their belts, they’re clearly just hitting their stride!

When Romina’s father, Luigi, was only 11 years old, his own papa passed away and his mother had to sell the family’s vineyards to survive on her own with three children. Years later, however, now married and with a family of his own, Luigi managed to buy back the exact same piece of land his mother had once sold! So, you can imagine just how heartfelt the family is today when it comes to their vines. Their first official bottling came in 1960 (starting with the “Trivoli” sparkling wine, which they sold in nearby Liguria along the coast), and as they grew, Luigi taught Romina and Alessio all that he knew. Romina laughs, “I must have been ten years old when I started helping in the cellar… I remember I kept dancing, dancing to the rhythm of the pump to help pass the time!” She also recalls those first few years she helped with the harvest, and the feeling of celebration that came along with it. “The whole family would eat lunch in the shade of a big cherry tree, and Grandma Clelia always made pasta fagioli for everyone…because it tastes so good cold. We would pour a little olive oil over the top and listen as the older women sang.” Such a life! No wonder Romina still has such a sparkle in her eye and spring in her step today.

Source:  August Imports; https://www.luigitacchino.it/ 

Barone Di Bernaj Frappato Terre Siciliane Madaudo 2022: $16.00

(Carefully curated notes below are taken from the Producer’s Website)

Varietal: 100% Frappato

Winery: Cantine Madaudo

Location: Sicily, Italy

Drink or Cellar? Drink now or cellar for cellar for another year

Some tidbits:

Rosario Madaudo’s fresh and fruity Frappato hails from 500 meters just outside the Etna growing zone, sharing in that sub-region’s warm climate and 100% volcanic soils. With all hands on deck, Cantine Madaudo is a true Sicilian family affair: 4th generation winemaker Rosario Madaudo works beside his father, Alfio, and uncle, Andrea, along with his younger brother, Giuseppe and two cousins, Maria Pia and Cristina. Together, they have transformed a small family tradition into a serious estate with vineyards in both Sambuca di Sicilia and the north slope of Mt. Etna

Tasting notes:

On the nose, this wine exhibits vibrant cherry, balsamic, and black pepper notes… with a palate that’s clean and refreshing for a red yet maintains its poise in the glass.

Food pairings

Try with a slight chill and some homemade bruschetta! Try also with cheeses, cured meats, & baked goods!

From Them to You!

Rosario Madaudo’s legacy of wine started with a small farm back in 1945, when his great-grandfather began working their first vines in Villafranca Tirrena, a small, coastal commune on the Thyrrenian side of Messina in the northeast corner of Sicily. Today, the young winemaker assists his father, Alfio, and uncle, Andrea, oversee a thriving business that includes 20 hectares on the north slope of Mt. Etna (some 90 km away), 40 hectares in the Agrigento (on the other side of the island), and a hip wine bar devoted to bubbly attached to the winery in their hometown. What impresses Rosario the most is what happened in the years he went away to school in Milano, studying first economics and then getting a masters in food and wine communications. Upon returning home, he was amazed at how his elders had taken a small family business and added an exponential, expanding production far beyond the previous generation. He speaks excitedly both of their accomplishments and of his own desire to bring the business full circle one day by adding a small, single estate to the equation. In the meantime, he remains humble and industrious in the cellar, working alongside his younger brother, Giuseppe, cousins Maria Pia and Cristina, and also his wife Alda, whom he met in school in Milan.

Source:  August Imports; https://cantinemadaudo.com/ 

La Quercia Aglianico 2022: $20.00

(Carefully curated notes below are taken from the Producer’s Website)

Varietal: 100% Aglianico

Winery: La Quercia

Location: Puglia, Italy

Drink or Cellar? Drink now or cellar for cellar through 2030

Some tidbits:

From the master of Montepulciano, Antonio Lamona delivers his signature combination of power and finesse with one of the most difficult varietals of all: Aglianico. La Quercia is an uncertified organic estate, and this wine, harvested from a single cru owned by the family in Puglia, really delivers. With the classic ripe plum and spice notes this varietal is known for, it is a rare opportunity to taste Aglianico in a fresh, immediate style. Setting it apart from Aglianico elsewhere in Italy’s south are notes of approachable, sweet tobacco and soft, deftly managed tannins.

Tasting notes:

Plush plum and sweet tobacco on the nose; Plush yet unoaked, medium-bodied on the palate with a full finish.

Food pairings

Pair it with sausage pizza, salami and pecorino, or roasted mushrooms.

From Them to You!

Having started as an enologist in both Puglia and Abruzzo, Antonio Lamona today channels all his energies and expertise into La Quercia. Together with three lifelong friends, he oversees this gorgeous, rustic estate in the tiny Adriatic town where sea, sun and wind abound. A “true blue,” grizzled farmer-type, winemaker Antonio Lamona is both utterly likeable and totally invested in his wines. Although his father also grew grapes, Antonio is the first in the family to bottle his own and, beginning in the late sixties, began cultivating vines that are entirely organic. As Antonio says, “I would rather forgo an entire vintage than put man-made pesticides in my soil.” Located just 3 km uphill from the Adriatic and a morning’s drive from the 9,000-foot Gran Sasso, Antonio’s farm is entirely self-sustaining: they produce their own salami, bread, vegetables, olive oil, and cheese. True, you won’t find a “discoteca” within a hundred miles of the place, but in terms of sheer, natural beauty and down-to-earth hospitality, there’s no better place to see.

Source:  August Imports; https://www.vinilaquercia.it/