New arrivals courtesy of our man in Monferrato, Francesco Pozzobon at Tenuta Foresto.
Available now are Leuto & Favonio from the 2023 vintage - by Francesco's measure, his best for his white varieties - alongside a new (to us) micro-cuvéee from the same year - Br4ch3tto - and from 2022 comes a barrel-aged edition of his sparkling La Comedie and his beloved Barbera, IDEAle.
The new arrivals are detailed in full below and we'll be pouring them for the trade Antidote on Monday Jan, 26.
With eight hectares planted over clay and the chalky limestone, Francesco practices a zero-input farming method inspired by Fukuoka, growing mostly Barbera, with a little Moscato, Cortese, Dolcetto & Brachetto.
Each wine walks the line between Francesco's meticulous attention to detail, and intent to not interfere with the vines, the fruit, or the wines. Work in the cellar is delicate and considered, producing wines of great depth without sacrificing freshness and tension.
SPARKLING
NEW 2022 - Comedie v2 - Barbera
Comedie V2 takes a two-year barrel-aged Barbera from a younger parcel (the first pick each vintage. Macerated for 24 hours.) After its long rest, the resulting wine is sparked for secondary fermentation in bottle with the fermenting must of the 2024 vintage. A really vinous, elegant expression of Barbera.
WHITE
NEW 2023 - Leuto - Cortese
With great cropping in 2023 for his whites despite another year of drought, Francesco took the risk to try a completely different vinification for Leuto, one he'd been hoping to try for a few years, to soften the extraction. A 20-day carbonic maceration in an oak fermenter, aged for 18 months in acacia barriques. Less orange than in previous years, but with great structure that will age beautifully. Tense and characterful.
SKINS
NEW 2023 - Favonio - Moscato
Francesco has stuck with his vinification technique for the new Favonio (a week of de-stemmed maceration in an oak fermenter) but decided to develop the wine in acacia tonneaux for 18 months - buffering the intense aromatics of Moscato beautifully, we're enjoying the balance of this vintage.
RED
NEW 2023 - Br4ch3tto - Brachetto
A new one for us - with only two barriques produced, there is rarely any spare for export - Francesco has roughly 50 plants of Brachetto growing in his Moscato vineyard (the two were traditionally co-planted) and in 2023 the fruit underwent a month of carbonic maceration in concrete before 18 months in barrique. Tiny volumes available!
NEW 2022 - La Ideale - Barbera
Francesco's expression of the grape that brought him from Veneto to Piedmont (via Highbury) - from a parcel of 25-30 year old vines, gently destemmed and macerated for two months in foudre with super low extraction, just a little juice occasionally to keep the cap wet. Aged in 20hl oak barrels for 18 months before bottling unfined and unfiltered. Great depth of fruit from a warm, dry vintage, a wine that has settled so nicely with a little age.
