Sergio's Pick

One of our proudest winemaker discoveries of last year was Chiara Condello from the Emilia-Romagna, a wine region that we appreciated for Lambrusco, but largely dismissed for their simple, red table wine. Some of the world's most famous culinary products such as Parmigiano Reggiano, Prosciutto di Parma, and Aceto Balsamico originate from here. For us it seemed like the quality of food products greatly overshadowed the quality of their accompanying wines until we came across last year's majestic 'Le Lucciole' bottle.'Le Lucciole' (the fireflies) represents Chiara's Riserva bottling and it continues to be nothing short of illuminating.

The bouquet is brooding with black plums, currants, violets, dried roses, black and green peppercorns, balsamic and cinder. A unique briny mineral-driven and velvety texture captivates as it descends towards a spicy, smokey and extremely lengthy finish. This 2019 vintage is a bit firmer upon opening than last year's wine, we recommend a 45-minute decanting.There is an abundance of nuances and complexity to be found in this wine. There is a deeper philosophical tone of stillness in her wines that has been echoed by other well known producers across the wine world that is captured beautifully on her website by a quote from Italian poet Franco Armino: "Today, being revolutionary means taking away more than adding, slowing down more than accelerating, means giving value to silence..."

About the Producer:

Chiara Condello is an exciting young winemaker who's leading, what can best be described, as a reawakening for the region; much like Arianna Occhipinti was to Sicily and Elisabetta Foradori was to the Trentino-Alto Adige. Yes, she belongs in that category! Unlike most Romagna vineyards, she is working with high elevation vines that have been farmed organically since her 1st vintage in 2015. The soils here are limestone and clay with a unique marine fossil composition dubbed spungone. The Sangiovese here, called Sangioveto dal Cannello Piccolo Predappio are smaller, spicier bunches than the Sangiovese Grosso grown in the more familiar Tuscan regions of Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino.