producer profile

<p>When we like a region, we tend to double down.&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="420">Emilia-Romagna</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> a perpetual underdog with its&nbsp;obscure and under-appreciated&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1071">varieties</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> incredible food and&nbsp;joie de vivre (sorry, no such term in Italian...) embodies everything we love. Over the past decade, it&#39;s been a pleasure constructing an impressive portfolio of <glossary title="420">Emilian</glossary>&nbsp;<glossary title="1089">vignaioli</glossary>&nbsp;and their fabulous wines. Today we add a crucial missing link: Tenuta Croci.</p> <p>A fixture in Italy&#39;s <glossary title="708">natural wine</glossary> circles, Massimiliano Croci&#39;s wines have been familiar to us for many years. We&#39;ve always made a point to taste with him at various wine fairs and have sat down together for many meals, often with his close friend&nbsp;<a href="httphttp://louisdressner.com/producers/Stoppa/">Elena Pantaleoni of La Stoppa</a>. When the opportunity to work together came about, we were quite excited.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Massi&rsquo;s focus is primarily on the traditional, <glossary title="938">bottle refermented</glossary> wines of his area, representing 80 to 90% of his production in a normal year. Set atop a picturesque hill, his <glossary title="815">poly-cultural</glossary> farm has cows, grain for the animals, pastures for grazing and of course vines. The whole <glossary title="427">estate</glossary> represents 16&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="523">hectares</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> with 8.5 dedicated to&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1103">viticulture</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> Milk was the farm&rsquo;s main production until 1970. At that time, competing with bigger, more modern institutions became too difficult for Massi&rsquo;s father. So he pivoted exclusively to wine, starting with bulk sales in <glossary title="387">demijohns</glossary> before eventually <glossary title="185">bottling</glossary> and selling locally. While initially successful, in the 1980&rsquo;s his rustic wines were scoffed at as a wave of &ldquo;clean&rdquo; <glossary title="540">industrial wines</glossary> swept&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="420">Emilia</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> <glossary title="272">Charmat</glossary> and heavy <glossary title="447">filtration</glossary> became the norm, with cloudiness/<glossary title="939">sediment</glossary> in the bottle to be avoided at all costs.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Massimiliano took over the vineyards and winemaking in 1999, where he quickly dropped the <glossary title="272">charmat method</glossary> eventually adopted by his father. He took inspiration from his grandfather&rsquo;s wines from the 1930&rsquo;s, which would&nbsp;always be <glossary title="185">bottled</glossary> with sugars so they could&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="938">referment in bottle</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> <glossary title="447">Filtration</glossary> was dropped as well:</p> <p><em>&ldquo;Without </em><glossary title="447"><em>filtration</em></glossary><em> and </em><glossary title="272"><em>charmat</em></glossary><em>, you taste the land. With it the wines could be from anywhere.&rdquo;&nbsp;</em><br /> <br /> Distinct <glossary title="1026">terroir</glossary> is also at play here. The Croci vines are planted on a formation of fossilized seabed,&nbsp;<glossary title="909">sandy</glossary> and full of <glossary title="596">limestone</glossary> fossils. This is the chief reason, we feel, the wines are so distinctive in their&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="662">minerality</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary title="990">structure</glossary> and fruit, distinguishing themselves from nearby La Stoppa and Denavolo. The other aspect that makes us appreciate the wines is Massimiliano&rsquo;s commitment to tradition and hard work. Their 8.5 <glossary title="523">hectares</glossary> of vineyards are worked with short&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="834">pruning</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> only manual weeding and minimally treated with <glossary title="179">bordeaux mix</glossary>; the grapes are <glossary title="520">hand-harvested</glossary> and all the wines are naturally <glossary title="441">fermented</glossary> first as wines and then naturally <glossary title="938">refermented in bottle</glossary> as <glossary title="471">frizzante</glossary> wines.<br /> <br /> Massi believes he is continuing the tradition of winemaking begun by his family in the 30&#39;s. We think he has found an even better sense of the wines and the vineyards. A refreshing and pure expression.</p>