Delicious Everyday Italian

STOCK UP ON THIS EVERYDAY ITALIAN!

“Forteto della Luja has long been one of the single best under the radar dessert wine producers in Italy, producing some unrivaled gems. What I sometimes forget, is that they are also an epic Barbera estate, making one of the best Barbera d'Astis you will drink. Aside from being a stellar bottle of juice, it is also at an all-time best price. Like many wines, importers are sitting on excess product due to restaurant closures, so we are once again seeing unbelievable deals.

We tasted this wine and were blown away by how good it is. The quality per price ratio is out of this world, there is so much going on, making this one of the best daily Italian offers we have seen yet. The average age of the vines is 30 years, at elevations that soar to 1500 feet. We have the 2018 Forteto della Luja Barbera d'Asti ‘Mon Ross’ for under $15 when you stock up, which is what you'll want to do! This is a bright and refreshing rosso, with loads of plummy fruits, candied violets, and sweet herbs.

Just because we have to hunker down, doesn’t mean we can’t drink better for less. Stay healthy and drink well.” – Lance Montalto, The Wine House

IMPORTANT UPDATE!

Due to a Wine House staff member testing positive for COVID-19, we are closing the store temporarily. However, our website is not sick, and emails can still send. These are tough times, and we are a family owned and run retail store that relies on the patronage of our customers, whose support has been unbelievable over the past 10 months. So, to keep the lights on and staff employed, we will continue to send out our unique wine emails. We are grateful for your understanding and continued support.

While the store is closed, we will process some orders; however, we will not be staffed to ship or to handle curbside pickup. Orders will be available for curbside pickup when we reopen the store, which we expect to be Saturday, January 30. That said, please check our website before coming to the store! Thank you, stay healthy and, as always, drink well!

CHAT! If you see a chat bubble in the lower right corner on our website, a Wine House employee who is working remotely is ready to answer your questions. Please note that chat is only available between 11AM and 6PM, and the bubble only displays when an employee is available.

FROM THE WINERY

Mon Ross Barbera d'Asti docg

Grape: Barbera

Vineyard: The terrain is highly suitable, having decarbonated soil with a neutral reaction, mainly clayey, light loamy or light sandy soils of yellow or reddish hue. The vineyards stand on very steep slopes at more than 300 metres above sea level. The exposure is sunny and the climate is ideal for this vine. On average the vines are more than thirty years old and the ecological balance is interesting because nearby there are copses of trees.

Production techniques: The grapes are grown using traditional, manual techniques. When the bunches are ripe, the grapes are harvested selectively and gradually and placed in slatted crates to protect the fruit.
The grapes are crushed and immediately fermented using winery's own varietal yeasts. The must is stored in small temperature-controlled vats and, in keeping with tradition, transferred to small oak barrels for a second fermentation and aging for four months, to enhance the olfactory characteristics. Following stabilisation during the cold winter months, the wine is bottled in the early spring, after the first full moon of March.

To be enjoyed: A classic table wine served young at 10 - 15°C with cold cuts, antipasti, pasta with tomato-based sauces, pizza, fish or white meats. To be drunk at room temperature with vegetable soups, roast meats or with the classic Piemontese dish Bagna Cauda.

Alcohol content: 13.5% by vol.

FROM THE IMPORTER

“There is so much to say about Forteta della Luja. It’s in Laozzolo, for starters, a region that’s 500m and 600m above sea level, some of the highest vineyards in Piedmont. In comparison to the other high-elevation vineyards of Piemonte in the northern Boca region, Loazzolo benefits from a sunnier climate and preponderant limestone soils.

Historically, the region was known for its late-harvest Moscato Passito wines which were the elixirs of nobility in the 17th century. In the early 1980s, it was the Scaglione family of Forteta della Luja—Giancarlo, the patriarch—who resurrected this forgotten sweet style. When Giancarlo made his first Moscato Passito from the estate’s oldest vineyard, Piasa Rischei (re-planted in 1938), his efforts were well-lauded across Europe. Laozzolo achieved DOC status in 1992 for its passito wines, through the efforts of Giancarlo’s and his close friend Giacomo Bologna, of the famous Piemontese winery Braida. If you walk into one of San Francisco’s finest Italian restaurants, you just might find one.

Forteto della Luja came to Giancarlo by way of his father, who purchased the farm in the 1970s. Forteto della Luja is more than a winery or a farm, it is designated as an “Oasis” by the World Wildlife Fund, a protected ecosystem that’s a habitat to more than hundreds of unique species of floral and fauna.. It’s a “WWF” winery… the first of its kind in Italy. Acres fall under the protection of Forteta della Luja, where the vineyard environment and surrounding boschi (forest-land) is thick with oak, ash, poplar, chestnut and broom; the flora are home to butterflies, coleoptera, and abundant populations of birds, roe deer, fox and boar.

Today’s protector of Forteto della Luja is Giancarlo’s son, Giovanni who grew-up with the bright colors and humming sounds that city kids dream-of. Whether it’s the power of the Barbera-Pinot Noir “Le Grive” or the meditation of the rare, Brachetto passito “Pian dei Sogni,” it’s obvious he has inherited his father’s devotion to Mother Nature. Advocates of solar power, he installed photo-voltaic panels on the cellar roof’s south side, the first solar-powered winery in Piedmont. He describes their farming practice as “Biological Agriculture” (please do not ask them if they are certified organic or biodynamic). He uses horses to plow the vinerows, and the property is home to countless owl-boxes and other avian habitats. The family eschews weed-killers, fungicides, and artificial fertilizers. As I write this, I think of Giovanni as part of the eco-system he’s worked so hard to create, a winery, a habitat, a home to humans, flora and fauna, a place where beautiful wines are connected to the place they’re grown with unusual harmony.