Surely the most welcome arrivals for late November: we have new wines from Francesco at Tenuta Foresto, in Nizza Monferrato, Piedmont.
Macerated whites and sparkling Barbera arrive from the 2022 vintage, alongside the 2021 editions of Pau Pau and La IDEAle, and a small top-up of his oldest-vine Barbera picked for 'Acru' from 2019.
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 Mosctao, Cortese, Dolcetto alongside.
Each wine elegantly 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, with no additions at any stage.
Speaking with Francesco recently, he spoke of the struggles with the heat in recent vintages, and whilst his vines have fared better than many of his neighbours, he's still needing to think further outside the box to prepare long-term solutions. His research has taken him to the Paulownia tree, an incredibly fast-growing tree with a canopy that begins over six feet - Francesco's plan is to replace his poles in the vines with these trees, quickly developing a natural shaded forest for the vines to thrive in. Really living up to the domaine name, we're looking forward to seeing how the project develops.
All the new wines are available now and will certainly please fans of Francesco's hard work!
AVAILABLE NOW
SPARKLING
2022 - La Comedie - Barbera The youngest Barbera vines at 15 years, picked first and macerated for 24 hours, fermented in stainless steel. Sparkling by the ancestral method, bottled over winter with the yeasts dormant, and fermentation continuing in bottle come spring. No additions.
SKINS
2022 - Leuto - Cortese
The '22 marks a slight stylistic change for Leuto: the vinification methods were split into thirds: one direct-press, one a 20-day destemmed maceration, and one a proper carbonic maceration of 15 days. Pressed and assembled together as fermentation was finishing, raised in oak barriques for 9 months before bottling with no additions.
2022 - Favonio - Moscato
50 year old vines, de-stemmed and macerated in concrete for 10 days. Fermentation in old oak, raised in acacia barrels over 9 months. No additions.
RED
2021 - PauPau - Dolcetto
A top-up of the '21 - a 20 day carbonic maceration, aged in concrete for 8 months, bottled with no additions.
2021 - La Ideale - Barbera
From vines roughly 25 years old, destemmed and macerated for two months in foudre with very little extraction, just a little juice occasionally to keep the cap wet. Aged in 20hl oak barrels for 9 months before bottling unfined and with no additions.
2019 - Acru - Barbera
From the oldest vineyard, 45 to 70 years old. De-stemmed into 30 hl truncated conical oak vats for a month. Occasional, gentle, punch-downs to wet the cap.
Aged in 20hl oak barrels and a small part in 700l tonneaux, for a little over a year. No additions.
