Louis/Dressner Selections

2024 Harvest Reports Coming Soon!

2024 Harvest Reports Coming Soon!

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Desktop vs Mobile: We know people use their phones a lot, so we've worked hard on ensuring the site functions well on mobile devices. Having said that, we recommend using a laptop/desktop to optimally peruse our content.  Glossary: At its core, this has always been a website written for wine professionals *attempting* to glean information on the wines we import - and hopefully see a picture of the vigneron's dog. Since the jargon can be so technical, we've added an <glossary term="glossary" title="1427">interactive glossary</glossary> to the text for those unfamiliar with the baffllingly complex world of wine terminology. Even if you're a seasoned pro, you might learn a thing or two. And if you'd rather read the content without the glossary, simply head to the main menu bar and turn it off.   "Our Wines" Section:  In the "Our Wines" section, we've offered a variety of filter categories for you to explore and discover all the cuvées we import. These filters can be combined together to narrow down results. If you hit a wall with no results, simply erase one of the filters or clear all filters.  Technical Information For Each Wine: 78% of the wines we import have extremely detailed technical information when clicked on, dare I say the most technical anywhere on the internet. Half of these are probably woefully outdated. Search: If you know what producer or wine you are searching for, the search should quickly autofill what you need. Go ahead, give it a whirl. You can also hit enter after searching and skup the autofill. Hyperlinks/PDFs: Every single piece of content on the website has its own hyperlink. This means you can easily share a specific producer page, article, wine or filter combination with anyone. You can also save or print out PDF's bt clicking the PDF icon. Copy/Paste: Due to the website's design, if you need to copy/paste anything, the glossary needs to be turned off for the text to paste correctly. We recommend using the PDF feature instead.  Also, if you are going to straight up use our writing verbatim, PLEASE credit us when doing so. Seems obvious but we see it happen all the time.  A Shit-Ton of Written Content: The articles themselves can often be very long, and for this reason we developed a Propriety Pop Up System™ where you can easily scroll through various articles/wines and "pop out" to efficiently look at the rest of the content. We've tried our best to pack as many dog pictures as possible in there, but the digital ink has been spilled: the cumulation of decades' worth of writings from Joe, Denyse, Kevin and Jules is here for you to read. A huge part of the work with this new website was to find better ways to condense and extract essential information you need without getting lost in all that BORING text.  We still think you should check it out. Don't worry, there are plenty of pictures. And you might even find the writing interesting. Or funny. Or both.

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producer profile 07.03.2024

Mattia Carfagna Producer Profile

We first met Mattia Carfagna in 2011, when a small group of us were marooned on the island of <glossary term="Giglio" title="491">Giglio</glossary>. At the time, Mattia was working at the Altura winery with his father Francesco and cooking at their seasonal family restaurant Arcobaleno. To this day, I vividly remember the fresh anchovies he served us with the 2010, 2009 and 2008 Altura <glossary term="Ansonaco" title="106">Ansonaco</glossary>. We’d see him again in 2015 at our New York City October trade show, then a few years later in Paris, where he’d decamped to go cook professionally. By then, he'd left the kitchen to start importing specialty Italian foods. Over constant, lengthy road trips from Paris to Italy to re-up on goods, Mattia began making a habit of visiting his vignerons friends in the <glossary term="Auvergne" title="128">Auvergne</glossary>. Quickly falling in love with the region, he originally envisioned having a second home there. Then, in 2019, a chance opportunity came from his friends Catherine Dumora and Manuel Duveau of L’Egrapille: having recently separated, the couple were no longer using their communal <glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary> and asked Mattia if he wanted to rent it along with some adjacent land for 250 euros a month. That same year, Mattia made a tiny amount of wine in the <glossary term="Auvergne" title="128">Auvergne</glossary>. His sister Irene poured it for us at Altura’s table during the 2020 <glossary term="Dive Bouteille" title="395">Dive Bouteille</glossary>. Our interest was piqued. We’d meant to get in touch but got somewhat distracted by the pandemic and resulting lockdowns of March 2020: a time that upended and changed everyone’s life one way or the other. For Mattia, with no restaurants to sell to, his food business was done. Strapped for cash and needing to leave Paris, he and his girlfriend Chiara decamped to the <glossary term="Auvergne" title="128">Auvergne</glossary>, where for over a year they lived in Catherine and Manu’s <glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary> with no electricity, using gas burners to cook and showering without hot water. During that time, Mattia started tending the tiny <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plots</glossary> of land he was renting as well as asking local owners if he could rent their abandoned <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcels</glossary>. Some said no, others yes. That year, Carfagna managed to start working nine tiny <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcels</glossary> owned by seven separate owners, all very old vines and previously abandoned. Totaling little more than a single <glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectare</glossary> combined, most of these micro-<glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plots </glossary>are within a <glossary term="Cru" title="1152">cru</glossary> of the <glossary term="Auvergne" title="128">Auvergne</glossary> <glossary term="AOC" title="108">AOP</glossary> called Châteaugay. There is no <glossary term="Basalt" title="145">basalt</glossary> here, though volcanic chunks of <glossary term="Peperite" title="1485">peperite</glossary> mark the <glossary term="Clay" title="301">clay</glossary> heavy <glossary term="Terroir" title="1026">terroir</glossary>. One <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plot</glossary> within Châteaugay happens to be purely <glossary term="Limestone" title="596">limestone</glossary>, and a final <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> in a nearby village grows on <glossary term="Basalt" title="145">basalt</glossary> soils (it's also completly surrounded by the suburban housing of <glossary term="Clermont-Ferrand" title="302">Clermont-Ferrand</glossary>, with the city visible from the vineyard).  An inestimable amount of work was and continues to be needed to get the land back into shape; during a January 2023 visit, we saw one <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plot</glossary> so completely overrun by thorns and shrubbery you had to squint to see the vines. For Mattia, this is a labor of love, passion and patience - honestly, it has to be seen to be believed.  From these <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plots</glossary>, a <glossary term="Gamay d'Auvergne" title="1308">Gamay d’Auvergne</glossary> called “Le Serail" is produced. With vines averaging 80 to 100 years old and <glossary term="Yield" title="1129">yields</glossary> at a measly 10-14<glossary term="hl/ha" title="528">hl/ha</glossary>, production is unsurprisingly very low. Knowing he could not survive producing just one wine, in 2020 Mattia reached out to <glossary term="Vigneron/Vignaiolo" title="1089">vigneron</glossary> friends across France for grapes to make supplemental <glossary term="Cuvée" title="363">cuvées</glossary>. This landed him in the <glossary term="Hérault" title="525">Hérault</glossary>, where Jeff Coutelou helped him buy fruit. In 2022, chance struck again: through Coutelou, Mattia was able to rent 3.5 <glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectares</glossary> in the <glossary term="Languedoc" title="579">Languedoc </glossary>on the hills of <glossary term="Faugères" title="1387">Faugères</glossary>. A 3+ hour drive from Châteaugay, Coutelou’s team tends the vines year-round, with Mattia present for crucial moments like <glossary term="Pruning" title="834">pruning</glossary> and <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary>. From the <glossary term="Languedoc" title="579">Languedoc</glossary>, he mostly farms <glossary term="Viognier" title="1111">Viognier</glossary> and a smaller amount of <glossary term="Grenache" title="508">Grenache Noir </glossary>and <glossary term="Muscat Petits Grains" title="699">Muscat Petits Grains</glossary>. The grapes are trucked back and <glossary term="Vinification" title="1104">vinified</glossary> in the <glossary term="Auvergne" title="128">Auvergne</glossary>, with an “Italian style” <glossary term="Maceration" title="610">macerated</glossary> white wine and a <glossary term="Grenache" title="508">Grenache</glossary>/<glossary term="Viognier" title="1111">Viognier</glossary> <glossary term="Blend" title="168">blend</glossary> produced at the time of this writing. Mattia’s means in the <glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary> are limited to <glossary term="Fiberglass" title="445">fiberglass</glossary> and an an old <glossary term="Concrete" title="325">concrete</glossary> <glossary term="Vat/Tank" title="1140">tank</glossary> for the time being, though he hopes to grow and evolve the types of <glossary term="Vessel" title="1160">vessels</glossary> and <glossary term="Vinification" title="1104">vinification</glossary> techniques over time. Each year the wines are made by instinct over formula, with the names and the labels often changing to reflect the unique aspect of the <glossary term="Vintage" title="1109">vintage</glossary>. For more information and pictures of those crazy aformentioned vines, please read our visit recap below (COMING SOON).

producer profile 28.11.2023

Salvatore Marino Producer Profile

Wine has been made in Salvatore Marino’s family for generations; growing up, his grandfather and father produced bulk wine in a large facility within the town of <glossary term="Pachino" title="1480">Pachino</glossary>. Always a bon vivant, Marino’s love for good food begat a passion for seeking delicious bottles from <glossary term="Sicily" title="951">Sicily</glossary> and beyond. It also made him dream of starting a project of his own. No stranger to <glossary term="Viticulture" title="1103">viticulture</glossary>, Salvatore knew he could start farming vines from his wife Stefania’s family. But before branching out on his own, he felt the need to learn how to properly run a cellar. Marino had learned how to make wine with his father, but found those bulk products riddled with defects, namely <glossary term="Brettanomyces" title="195">brett</glossary>. So for many years, Salvatore cut his teeth working at huge wineries in California, <glossary term="Puglia" title="836">Puglia</glossary> and <glossary term="Sicily" title="951">Sicily</glossary> to further his knowledge of <glossary term="Enology" title="422">enology</glossary>.  “I never liked the wines I made at those places. But you can can learn so much, so fast in those environments. The large scale gives you perspective.” With a decade of big winery experience behind him, Salvatore launched his eponymous <glossary term="Estate" title="427">estate</glossary> in 2017. Today he works 15 <glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectares</glossary> of land divided into five sectors, all close to each other and the town of <glossary term="Pachino" title="1480">Pachino</glossary>. A firm believer in <glossary term="Polyculture" title="815">polyculture</glossary>, seven of the 15 <glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectares</glossary> are planted in vines, with the rest planted in fruit trees, wheat, other cereals, table grapes and much more. Some of the land is from Stefania’s family, some is rented and some Marino has purchased. The soils consist of medium to heavy <glossary term="Clay" title="301">clay</glossary> with <glossary term="Limestone" title="596">limestone</glossary>, planted in <glossary term="Gobelet" title="497">bush-trained</glossary> vines wrapped up on pickets to avoid damage from the region’s constant winds. Salvatore and Stefania do everything themselves, save for some seasonal help around <glossary term="Pruning" title="834">pruning</glossary> and <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary> seasons.  Though he still has access to the family winery, Salvatore does not feel comfortable making his wines there because he finds it too big and would rather be closer to the vines. In 2021, he purchased a four <glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectare</glossary> property in the countryside where he is in the early stages of building a new winery, including a <glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary>, stocking room, tasting room and guest rooms. The <glossary term="Cantina" title="233">cantina</glossary> is surrounded by <glossary term="Limestone" title="596">limestone</glossary> rich <glossary term="Coteau" title="345">coteaux</glossary>: Salvatore has planted grafts of <glossary term="Nero d'Avola" title="714">Nero d’Avola</glossary> and <glossary term="Pignatello" title="797">Pignatello</glossary> and plans to plant <glossary term="Grecanico" title="1322">Grecanico</glossary> in the near future.  Three wines are currently produced. The bianco is 100% <glossary term="Catarratto" title="249">Catarratto</glossary>, and comes from a 0.5 <glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectare</glossary> vineyard planted by Salvatore in 2016 along with a 10 year old <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> of rented vines. It <glossary term="Maceration" title="610">macerates</glossary> five days before <glossary term="Fermentation" title="441">fermenting</glossary> in <glossary term="Stainless Steel" title="986">stainless steel</glossary>, then <glossary term="Aging" title="74">ages</glossary> in <glossary term="Concrete" title="325">concrete</glossary> <glossary term="Vat/Tank" title="1140">tanks</glossary> before <glossary term="Bottling" title="185">bottling</glossary>. <glossary term="Catarratto" title="249">Catarratto</glossary> is actually a bit of a rarity in <glossary term="Pachino" title="1480">Pachino</glossary>, as <glossary term="Grillo" title="511">Grillo</glossary> has gained traction throughout <glossary term="Sicily" title="951">Sicily</glossary>; most of Marino’s contemporaries are exclusively replanting <glossary term="Marsala" title="633">Marsala</glossary>’s native white grape. In fact, only four producers currently cultivate <glossary term="Catarratto" title="249">Catarratto</glossary> and Salvatore is the only one focusing on new plantations. “I like <glossary term="Grillo" title="511">Grillo</glossary>, but I do not feel it is optimal for the <glossary term="Terroir" title="1026">terroirs</glossary> of <glossary term="Pachino" title="1480">Pachino</glossary>. My grandfather told me when I was young that <glossary term="Catarratto" title="249">Catarratto</glossary> was the white grape for this area. I always remembered that.” The <glossary term="Rosé/Rosato" title="871">rosato</glossary> is 100% <glossary term="Syrah" title="1001">Syrah</glossary> and a <glossary term="Direct Press" title="392">direct press</glossary>, <glossary term="Fermentation" title="441">fermented</glossary> and <glossary term="Aging" title="74">aged</glossary> in <glossary term="Stainless Steel" title="986">stainless steel</glossary>. Finally, the rosso is 95% <glossary term="Nero d'Avola" title="714">Nero d’Avola</glossary>, 5% <glossary term="Pignatello" title="797">Pignatello</glossary>. It <glossary term="Maceration" title="610">macerates</glossary> only six days, <glossary term="Fermentation" title="441">ferments</glossary> in <glossary term="Stainless Steel" title="986">stainless steel</glossary> then <glossary term="Aging" title="74">ages</glossary> in <glossary term="Concrete" title="325">concrete</glossary>. Salvatore’s ultimate goal with this wine is to be versatile with a meal (we can confirm it’s very good with fish) but also something you’d want to keep drinking after you’re done eating or even on its own.