When our friends at Vintage ’59 Imports told us they were “dipping their toes” into Italy, we were intrigued, considering the strength of their toes elsewhere.  They brought us the wines of Giuseppe Nada, a small family-run estate in the village of Treiso in Barbaresco.  We tasted and, luckily, there was not much to think about:  there was a “there there” that was undeniable, a transparent nonchalance in the glass with nothing overwrought.  We said yes. 

From Roy Cloud of Vintage ’59:
“On March 27, 1900, a forefather of Giuseppe Nada sealed a deal on a vineyard, orchard, and a small house on a steep hillside in the commune of Treiso. The vineyard was in the cru of Casot, and that forefather bought the parcel from a fellow by the name of Gaja....
...The Nada holdings in the two constitute six hectares (almost 15 acres), which is the totality of vines owned by this industrious family. These days, Giuseppe and Nella stay fit maintaining the vineyards where they do practically all of the work, while their daughter Barbara manages the office and their enologist son Enrico oversees the wine production down in the cellar....Once Enrico came on board, his keen intelligence and passionate direction allowed the family to go organic in the vineyards in 2014. They received initial certification in 2017, while the white vineyards will be certified in 2018 and 2019.  In the cellar, Enrico now lets all of the red wines ferment spontaneously....
...The three towns of what is now a DOCG are Treiso, Neive, and Barbaresco. They form a triangle: Barbaresco in the west, Neive in the east, and Treiso—the smallest in acreage and highest in elevation—in the south. Innately, Barbaresco and Treiso lean toward elegance while Neive can pack more power and structure, but the differences can be readily rendered mute by the hand of man. It is worth noting, however, that if it snows, it snows first in Treiso, and Treiso’s altitudes give it the widest diurnal swings.”

We are fortunate to have Giuseppe Nada’s wines in our Italian portfolio.

Nicolas-Jay is a collaboration between two long-time friends - famed Burgundian winemaker Jean-Nicolas Méo of Domaine Méo-Camuzet, and visionary music entrepreneur and wine-lover Jay Boberg. In 2011, Jay approached Jean-Nicolas with the idea of starting a small winery in Oregon. Jean-Nicolas had been making wine at Méo-Camuzet for almost 25 years and was very intrigued and excited by the idea of working with Pinot Noir in a new terroir.

Knowing that the wines of Nicolas-Jay would be defined by the vineyards, Jean- Nicolas and Jay began a lengthy exploration of the Willamette Valley. They established relationships with some of the finest vineyards in the AVA, and took ownership of the Bishop Creek Vineyard in Yamhill Carlton AVA after being blown away at a tasting by the expressiveness of the site.

With a focus on freshness and balance, Nicolas-Jay is often one of the first wineries to harvest the vineyards it partners with. The grapes are 100% destemmed and pressed very slowly and at low pressures to accentuate pure fruit and a silky mouthfeel. Nicolas-Jay brings Burgundian traditions to their winemaking while aiming to express the natural elegance of Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

Launched in 2013, this new project was inspired by the spirituality of the people who have made mezcal here since before the Pre-Columbian era. Bernardo Sada, the founder of the project, was born in Oaxaca city in 1986. An evolutionary biologist by profession, he has worked in several sustainability projects, as well as projects regarding Mexican ancestral botany and pre-Hispanic cultures. It was this work that led him into the world of mezcal production, together with Eleazar Brena, an agronomist and professor at the University of Mihuatlan in Oaxaca, where he teaches agave reforestation and ecology, and his father Don Marcos Brena, the fifth generation of his family to make mezcal. Currently 83, Don Marcos learned to cook, ferment and distill mezcal at the age of 12. He lived through the mezcal prohibition era, when he and other maestros had to make mezcal in hiding.  Today, he is a shepherd, and it is on his daily 10-kilometer walk with his goats that he spots agave growing in the wilderness (agave silvestre) from which they harvest both seeds and piñas. Their company motto., “The agave is my shepherd,” is inspired by Don Marco’s life.

The mezcals are made in San Luis Amatlán in Oaxaca (the cradle of mezcal) by maestros mezcaleros who practice the secret techniques passed down to them by their forefathers. The line is based on four varieties of agave—Espadín, Tobalá, Coyote de Amatlán (also known as Madrecuixe or Madre-Cuishe) and Jabalí—specifically selected for their sustainability, a driving force behind the project. In fact, the desire to apply their scientific training to the sustainability of the production of mezcal is the primary reason Bernardo and Eleazar founded Noble Coyote.
The arid and semi-arid Amatlánes region of Oaxaca presents a favorable climate for cultivating agave, especially wild agave. They started with the cultivation of Espadín, and then began to experiment with the reforestation of wild species as a way to improve biodiversity and maintain the health of the local ecosystem. They are now pioneering the cultivation of Tobalá and Coyote as semi-wild agaves and continue to experiment with the cultivation of other wild agaves including Tepeztate.  At this time, they do not believe that it is responsible to make mezcal from Tepeztate which can take up to 35 years to reach maturity.

Bernardo and Eleazar frequently go out on expeditions to collect agave seeds. In their greenhouses, they germinate the seeds and care for the plants for the first two years of their lives—when they are most vulnerable—and then re-plant them in the wild. This project has been under way for more than seven years and has been very successful; others have joined the project, the ecosystem is recovering, and there is now greater agave biodiversity in the Amatlánes. This is a vast improvement over the cultivation of rows and rows of one species of agave because the latter adversely affects the communities of bees and the colonies of bats that are needed to pollinize different kinds of plants. They believe that sustainability isn’t solely about growing enough agave for their own needs., but is iInstead about re-populating the wilds, helping the ecosystem and improving biodiversity for the benefit of all.

Their commitment extends to the authenticity of their exquisite mezcals. Each bottle of Mezcal Noble Coyote identifies the maestro mezcalero that distilled it, the village in which it was made, the type of agave used identified by both its scientific name and the common name used in the place where the plants were grown, and the lot and bottle number of the particular batch. The mezcals are not aged; they believe that the mezcals “age in the plant” as the agaves live out their 8-12+ years of life soaking up the sun, air, water and earth in Oaxaca. It is the special terroir of San Luis Amatlán and San Agustín Etla that gives these mezcals their flavor. We are excited to welcome these mezcals to our portfolio.

NUKU traces its roots to a picturesque valley in Atlixco, Mexico in the state of Puebla. Located at the foot of the most active volcano in Mexico named Popocatepetl (”el Popo”), NUKU is a result of traditions learned and inherited from the best Mezcal Masters of the Poblana region.

Luis Aguilar is the Master Mezcallier, with 20 years producing experience. Luis’s four daughters are also a big part of production and sales.

NUKU’s agave fields are located within the Popocateptl Volcano Transversal a chain of active and inactive volcanoes in Puebla, 20,000 years ago, a volcanic eruption occurred on these lands, creating soil rich with nutrients like silica and potassium, which are vital for the development of the leaf and the heart of the agave. This volcanic earth also contains obsidian lava rock, which produces a naturally aerated soil that the roots of the agave plant can easily penetrate. The agave can take up to 7 years to mature. The high subsoil microporosity encourages root vegetables including potatoes, carrots, onions, turnips and swedes, to expand without limit in a freely drained subsoil environment that’s why Agaves are sweet and rich in vitamins. With proper management volcanic ash soils are capable of high productivity and long-term agricultural and environmental sustainability. Making for a lighter fruitier style of Mezcal.