Global Critical Darling. Loved by the Italian Michelin Stars. Lunarossa Is the Next Big Thing in Italy - Red and White

 Mario Mazzitelli, The Genius Winemaker Who Will Change Everything
 - Galloni Gave the 2009 Borgomastro 93 Points
 - The 2016 Quartara Made the Top 100 Whites in Italy List
 - The 2018 Quartara Made the Top 100 Whites in Italy List
 - Lunarossa Is Becoming the Darling of the Top Sommeliers in Italy
 - One Salesman Has Them in 15 Michelin Starred Restaurants in Italy
 - ...Including Seta (**) Perhaps the Top Restaurant in Milan
   - Brilliant New Approach to Making Italian White Wine
 - Trained at 2 of the Top Wineries in Italy
 - The Pricing on These Wines Is The Lowest I've Seen for World Class Wines

2018 Lunarossa Quartara
 - 5/5 l'Espresso Guide (The Most Important Italian Guide)
 - "Top Italian White" l'Espresso Guide 
 - Nose: Monstrous Density and Concentration
 - Dried Fruits. Apricots, Perfect Peach, a Hint of Lemon
 - Terrific Salinity 
 - The Palate Impact of Hermitage or Corton Charlemagne
 - Sucking on a Cold, River-Smoothed Rock Minerality
 - Fassy Juiciness
 - So Much Going on, It's Almost Alive on the Palate
 - Remarkable Wine, 
 - Should Be in the $80+ Price Range Like Miani / Borgo del Tiglio/Valentini
 - The Chance for the Rest of Us to Try World Class Wine for $34.99

2016 Lunarossa Borgomastro
 - 93 Points, Eric Guido, Vinous (2009 Vintage)
 - 5/5 Bibenda (Important Italian Guide) 
  - A Stunningly Delicious Red Wine
 - Sweet, Gorgeous Spicy Nose
 - Fresh Plums on the Palate
 - Incredible Density with Great Spice
 - Finish Is Like RSV Made from Aglianico - So Dense

 - Incredible Value for a Wine This Good

The Truth Will Win Out - It Just Takes Time

In art, wine and life, the truth usually wins out. In some cases, it just takes time.  

Mario Mazzitelli is a generational winemaking talent.  His innovations in the use of amphorae with white wines will, I believe, be copied all over Italy at some point.  These are without a doubt among the best and most distinctive white wines in Italy. The reds are spectacular as well and Mario's interpretation of Aglianico is pure poetry.

But Mario has a part time salesperson in Italy and that's it. He spends most of his time at the winery. So he has relied on a small group of fanatics like us to spread the word. But the word is spreading. Eric Guido at Vinous has rated the wines highly. And Mario is at the top of the heap for whites in the Italian critical community.

So it's a matter of time.  Which is less good for Mario but great for us as we get to drink these works of genius at a fraction of their value.  

Stock up.

The White That Is Changing Everything

I'm thrilled to offer the 2018 Lunarossa Quartara for $34.99 each on a 4 pack purchase. This is 100% Fiano. First, please do not draw any conclusions from the price. This is a very young winery with limited marketing dollars and they are making wines in an unheralded area of Campania so the market has not yet had a chance to work its price mechanism on them. They should cost at least in the $80+ range of Miani and the top Borgo del Tiglio bottlings. 

The nose is one of those that grabs your attention. Just massive concentration. Mineral. Dried fruits. Apricots, perfect peach, a hint of lemon.  Salinity. Wow. Definitely a wine that could live on its nose if it had to.  Imagine the density of a top St. Peray or Hermitage.  Mario gets stunning density on these grapes and it show sup right off the bat.

But the palate is really where the freakshow happens. This is one of those wines that you get it in your mouth and no matter what you are doing, time dilates, almost like a scene in a movie where the main character is fine and everyone else is frozen. The first thing you get is a sense of overwhelming richness. I'm not talking California Chardonnay faux wood richness, but real richness from the density of fruit and bundled secondary flavors. Massive levels of dried apricot, packed secondary flavors like honey, saline, a hint of spice. The wine is really young and there is so much going on, you'd need at least a day to unpack most of it (I didn't have a day). All seamlessly bonded with perfect epic levels of sucking on a cold, river-smoothed rock minerality. Oh, and this wine is not a sledgehammer - it's perfectly balanced with super
clean acids - it's so juicy. Really complex and big internal aromatics swirl around like a tornado: anise, apple, mere hints of acacia honey and chestnut, orange flowers and chamomile. Great texture on the palate; the wine has truly great palate presence. 

The finish at this point in its evolution is mineral with lovely clingy green appleskin.

Now this is perhaps the best white I've had in Italy but the crazy thing is, it's not one of those whites that is a museum piece type wine where it's purely an intellectual construct and fascinating to taste. It's absolutely one of the most delicious wines I'll offer all year. The fruit is really clean and delicious. It's unlike the top wines from France in that regard which are usually too woody (and sometimes obnoxious) to drink young. I could make the ethical argument that even though the wine is incredibly good now (and so inexpensive) that it would be wrong to suck down a case in 12 months. Alas, I'm not a professor of moral philosophy.

I noted in the headlines that this wine is at least remarkable. It is. It's absolutely one of the most well made, powerful and delicious wines you will drink this year. But the truth is it may be better than that. My gut is that with 5-10 years the secondary and tertiary flavors bound up in the 2018 could free themselves as the fruit calms down and this wine could be profound. Please, at least save a bottle for a few years to see what happens. The wine has the acidic balance and structure to age for at least 5-7 years and likely longer.

This is 100% Fiano. Only 180 cases were made of a special selection of his best vines. Fermentation is in amphorae. The tops of the amphorae are closed so the wine is not an orange wine (even though the winemaker worked with Gravner). The wine is subsequently aged in oak barrels. Somehow the winemaking gets the most out of the grapes but does not make the wine taste oxidative. When I said that the winemaker will change everything, I meant it. Whatever he is doing is remarkable. This needs 20-30 minutes to open up - it's not a pop and pour quaffer and it needs to settle down so please give it some time.

The second wine is the 2016 Lunarossa Borgomastro for $39.99 each on a 4 pack purchase. This is one of those very rare Muhammad Ali wines: "Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee." It's made from 100% Aglianico which is generally definitely in the heavyweight class in terms of weight. But for some reason, this wine has the fruit density of great Aglianico and it has really terrific finesse and balance. In its own way, it's just as amazing and unique as the white.

The nose here is mostly sweet licorice. I'm not talking Twizzlers, I'm talking very light, sweet, almost floral licorice. Just beautiful. Some black cherry, juniper, black pepper and floral elements as well.

On the palate, the fruit is amazing. Raspberry, delicious sweet raspberry liquor, licorice, spice, a hint of tar, all woven together. Really voluminous on the palate. Amazing balancing acidity and so juicy. Really amazing levels of juiciness for a wine with this amount of fruit density. It's really incredibly fresh as compared to Taurasi. Perfectly integrated tannins with the structure to age for a decade or more. The finish is long and juicy. The wine is almost sensual in the best way. It has all of the components of Aglianico but they are just presented in a slightly toned down, more gentle way than most Aglianico-based wines.

The finish is actually where this wine was the best. It had the density of Romanee St Vivant made from Aglianico. Long and fresh and dense and juicy. Truly amazing.

This is their top of the line red. It's made from a selection of their best grapes from a vineyard near the Picentini mountains. The wine is aged in large oak barrels for 24-30 months.

2018 Lunarossa Quartara - $36.99 ($139.96 4-Pack) 

2016 Lunarossa Borgomastro - $41.99 ($159.96 4-Pack)