Ripe Fruit, Honied, Complex

Piemonte / White / Cortese / Organic, Biodynamic

Grapes are selected directly in the vineyard and handpicked at the end of September. After the selection, grapes are destemmed and delicately pressed. Fermentation takes place in small stainless steel tanks at a controlled. Nearly 25 days later, at the end of fermentation, the wine is transferred into another stainless steel tank, and there it remains for 6 months. Wine is then bottles but not ralesed for another 6 months.

Notes on the producer

La Raia encompasses 180 hectares in Gavi, in the rolling hills of Piedmont’s southeast, with 48 hectares planted to grapevines. The vines are planted 90% to the local Cortese and 10% to Barbera, in a diverse array of soil types—mainly chalky clay, with pockets of volcanic-derived iron which give the soil a reddish hue. “Vigna Madonnina” represents less than 10% of production, La Raia’s Gavi Riserva - one of only four examples of a Riserva in the entire zone. It is made from 20-year-old vines planted in the chalky white soils of the southeast-facing Madonnina vineyard. Tasting Notes: This is broad yet focused on the nose, with an intense Chablis-like chalkiness; the palate possesses concentration and cling, with the chalk echoing and carrying the flavors of apricot and apples through an impressively lengthy finish.