Wine Club - January 2021

“La Fortuna” Bianco – Agricola Caprera (2019)

Grape Variety(s): Trebbiano Style: Dry White
Region: Abruzzo, Italy

Winemaker: Luca Paolo Virgilio Soil: Clay, Limestone, Marl
Age of Vines: 5 yrs

Luca-Paolo Virgilio is a younger winemaker at the start of a new project in Abruzzo, Italy. Luca-Paolo came to natural wine by way of putting on wine fairs in his region. After the 2009 earthquake in Abruzzo, Luca-Paolo wanted to return home to be closer to his family and felt driven to work with the land. Though his family has its history in Abruzzo, they were not farmers.

In 2013, with the help of his father's best friend, entering retirement, he purchased an organic farm in the mountains in Abruzzo. Only about 35km from the coast, the last sits at about 450m elevation and represents a complex terroir. He planted his first vines in 2014 and made his first vintages in 2016 and 2017. He works everything organically and is slowly expanding his vineyard holdings with new plantings in 2019.

A few months ago, we included Luca’s red “Le Vasche” Montepulciano...a wine we received rave reviews on from you...thank you! So, we thought you’d want to give his white wine a look tooJLike the red, this also comes from a tiny tiny vineyard of just 0.5 hectares of Trebbiano Abruzzese...an old strain of Trebbiano specific to this area. The grapes are direct-pressed and ferment and age in steel tanks for about one year. Trebbiano can be a bit of an innocuous/neutral grape but Luca vines definitely have some character to them. This wine will actually age nicely if you wanted to hold it for a few years. Try this with white fish or salty seafood for a winning pairing.

Cuisine de Ma Mere...en Vacances – Les Tetes (2018)

Grape Variety(s): Merlot, Syrah, Duras, Braucol Style: Dry Red
Region: Gaillac, France

Winemaker: Nicolas Grosbois Soil: Clay, Limestone
Age of Vines: 40 yrs

This is a fun little red wine from grapes of the lesser known region of Gaillac, located in Southwest France. Gaillac is interesting in that it has historically been caught off from international trade due to its landlocked location, thus its not uncommon to find unheard of grape varieties like Braucol and Duras (both present in this wine).

The wines of this region usually have a pleasant rusticity to them, an earthy, almost iron-y quality. I love them with a nice wood fired steak or mushroom dish!

Excellent with meat, roast and cheese.

Every wine in the Little House Wine Club is: made from organically farmed grapes, fermented with native yeasts, and contains no additions, with the exception of small doses of sulfur in some cases.