2019 Vin de France Muscatellu “Morta Maió” Non MutéAntoine-Marie Arena
France | Corsica
$57
Producers
Manni is a towering, stubbly, Alpine hulk of a man with a comical cynicism about the modern wine world, as if Woody Harrelson grew several inches taller, threw on a baseball cap, and launched into a bombastic tirade in a mixture of German and Italian, grunting and sighing about Italian consumers’ tasteless appetite for insipid bulk wines. All that is to say he shares our aversion to “pop wines” that reflect a winemaking formula—you’ll see that his wines are anything but banal. His Sylvaner from high in the Dolomites is a finely channeled mountain breeze, an exercise in textural delicacy that will leave your palate tingling with the sensation of crispy minerals.
—Anthony Lynch
Wine Type: | white |
Vintage: | 2021 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Sylvaner |
Appellation: | Alto Adige – Valle Isarco |
Country: | Italy |
Region: | Alto Adige |
Producer: | Manni Nössing |
Winemaker: | Manni Nössing |
Vineyard: | 2-8 years , 0.3 ha |
Soil: | Sandy, Granite |
Farming: | Sustainable |
Alcohol: | 13% |
Manni Nössing Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige – Valle Isarco
Manni Nössing Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige – Valle Isarco
Manni Nössing Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige – Valle Isarco
Manni Nössing Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige – Valle Isarco
Ferruccio Carlotto Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige
Peter Dipoli Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige
In the heart of the Dolomites, Alto Adige is Italy’s northernmost wine region. Having changed hands multiples times in its history between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire (it shares a border with Austria), it boasts strong Germanic influence on its culture, language, cuisine, as well as its wines.
The mountainous geography is the principal determinant of local winemaking styles, with the high-altitude vineyards and cool Alpine climate favoring primarily crisp, racy, aromatic whites from varieties like Kerner, Sauvignon, Müller Thurgau, and Grüner Veltliner. A Mediterranean influence on climate is channeled north up the valley until Bolzano, permitting the cultivation of certain reds as well, among which Schiava, Lagrein, Pinot Nero, and Merlot fare best.
Small growers who once sold fruit to the area’s multiple co-ops are now increasingly bottling their own wines. The arrival of many quality-oriented artisans on the scene caught our eye years ago, and we now count three estates from Südtirol, as it is also known, in our portfolio. These high-acid mountain wines make for a beautifully invigorating aperitivo with thinly sliced speck, a local specialty.
Ferruccio Carlotto Italy | Alto Adige | Vigneti delle Dolomiti
Peter Dipoli Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige
Manni Nössing Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige – Valle Isarco
Manni Nössing Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige – Valle Isarco
Manni Nössing Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige – Valle Isarco
Ferruccio Carlotto Italy | Alto Adige | Vigneti delle Dolomiti
Peter Dipoli Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige
Manni Nössing Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige – Valle Isarco
Ferruccio Carlotto Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige
Peter Dipoli Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige
Tenuta Anfosso Italy | Liguria
Punta Crena Italy | Liguria | Colline Savonesi
Every three or four months I would send my clients a cheaply made list of my inventory, but it began to dawn on me that business did not pick up afterwards. It occurred to me that my clientele might not know what Château Grillet is, either. One month in 1974 I had an especially esoteric collection of wines arriving, so I decided to put a short explanation about each wine into my price list, to try and let my clients know what to expect when they uncorked a bottle. The day after I mailed that brochure, people showed up at the shop, and that is how these little propaganda pieces for fine wine were born.—Kermit Lynch
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