Vintage 2025

In Col San Martino, almost every second family bears the name Merotto. To distinguish the family from Graziano Merotto, they were given a nickname – and this nickname now appears on the label of its oldest brut sparkling wine. Bareta: a gesture of belonging, from the dialect directly into the glass. 100% Glera, exclusively from vineyards in Col San Martino, on yellowish-bluish marl with grey sandstone, 200 to 400 metres, south to south-east exposure, double-bend training. Gentle pressing, single-varietal fermentation at controlled temperature, second fermentation 50 to 60 days in autoclaves at 12–13 °C. Residual sugar < 8 g/litre – the dry end of the brut spectrum. Graziano calls Bareta the brut representation of his stylistic conviction.

Vines have been known in Col San Martino for over two thousand years. The Merotto family does not say this as an advertising message – it is simply what characterises the history of this small village. Graziano Merotto has developed his parents' winery into one of the most stylistically independent addresses in Valdobbiadene: no compromise on location, no compromise on care, no compromise on style. Colbelo is Merotto's oldest and most famous wine – the same character, the same standards for decades. 100% Glera from vineyards at 300 metres, south-facing, yellowish-bluish marl and sandstone, Sylvoz training. Vines from 15 to 18 years old. Hand-picked at the end of September, gentle pressing, single-varietal fermentation at a controlled temperature, second fermentation for 40 days in autoclaves at 12–13 °C. Residual sugar 16 g/litre – extra dry, which is the most obvious (and classic) choice for this grape variety and terroir.

A name that doubles as a programme: the de Corato family and the Coratina olive variety not only share the same syllables, but also their homeland – the hills near Andria, where the Murgia slopes gently down to the Adriatic Sea. Here, in the shadow of Frederick II's legendary Castel del Monte, the family has been cultivating centuries-old olive groves since the 19th century. The Coratina is considered one of the most powerful varieties in Italy: rich in phenols, intense, with that distinctive bitter note that connoisseurs are looking for. Harvested by hand, cold-pressed on the day of harvest and matured for three months in glazed concrete tanks.

Refrontolo lies on the eastern edge of the denominazione – quieter, warmer, a half tone lower than the steep slopes of the core zone. The Col del Forno vineyard is a natural amphitheatre of around four hectares at 250 metres, nestled between forests and terraced slopes. Andreola acquired the plot in 2016 – and the wine was one of the most convincing of the entire Rive line right from the start. What distinguishes Refrontolo from Col San Martino is not quality, but character. The clayey, marly soils with karst formations dating back to before the last ice age reliably retain moisture – providing a stable water supply for the vines even in dry years. Temperatures are slightly higher than in the west of the denomination and ripening begins earlier. The result is not intense floral wines, but Glera with ripe fruit: hawthorn, wisteria, apple, peach and yellow citrus fruits – a warmer, more complex spectrum of flavours.

Rive di Rolle lies in the shelter of the Trevigian Prealps – warmer than the more open sites of the Denominazione, with higher average annual temperatures and deep, fine-grained clay-marl soils that retain moisture and ensure a consistent water balance for the vines even in dry years. The result is a Glera that matures differently than elsewhere: more opulent, more fruit-driven, with an aromatic spectrum that goes far beyond the floral notes of the limestone vineyards. The Vigna Ochera is the most perfect representative of this terroir logic in the Andreola portfolio.

Santo Stefano Belbo is a small town in the Langhe, at the transition to the Asti zone – known as the birthplace of Cesare Pavese and the heart of Moscato cultivation. It is also the home of the Ceretto family. A second story began here in 1976, when Bruno and Marcello Ceretto had long been regarded as the reformers of Barolo and Barbaresco: together with four local winegrowing families, they founded I Vignaioli di Santo Stefano – out of a desire to restore the dignity of Moscato d'Asti. At the time, the grape variety had sunk into mass production and the name had been eroded. In contrast, they set 41 hectares, hand-picked grapes and a clear attitude. Today, almost fifty years later, the principle remains unchanged: 100% Moscato Bianco from marble-rich hillside terrain at around 400 metres above Santo Stefano Belbo and neighbouring Calosso. Fermented exclusively in steel. The freshness and varietal character of Moscato should speak for themselves, and they do so extremely well.

Pinot Blanc is not a fad in Terlan. It is the foundation. The grape variety around which cellar master Rudi Kofler has been thinking for decades is Pinot Bianco – and no other place in Italy produces it as clearly, as long-lived, as unmistakably as these slopes. The vineyards lie at 350 to 900 metres, on steep to very steep slopes on Monte Tschöggl – higher and cooler than most other Terlan parcels. Quartz porphyry, hand-picked, gentle pressing, slow fermentation in steel, 6–7 months on the fine lees.

Graziano Merotto has named wines after parcels of land, after decades of experience, and also after himself. This one, however, he named after his daughter. La Primavera di Barbara – barbara's spring. What at first sounds like a gesture of affection is also a precise description of the wine: bright, blooming, with a vibrancy that can only be found in the best season.

The evening fall winds of the Mendel Mountains characterise the entire terroir of the St. Michael-Eppan winery. They ensure cool nights and give the grapes the extraordinary characteristics that characterise the aromas, unmistakable freshness and longevity of the wines. The fall wind is the natural force that blows over the vineyard every day, positively influencing the climate and supporting the valuable work of the winegrowers at the cooperative winery.

Lezér means "light" and so it is – in the most delicate sense. Light ruby red in colour, red berries and an interesting hint of violets on the nose. Smoke, freshly cut wood and a fine creaminess on the palate. A thoroughly fresh red wine right through to the finish, which goes well with warm weather and uncomplicated Mediterranean cuisine, especially when slightly chilled. The ageing in different containers such as amphora, cement tank and wooden barrel gives it an additional appeal and an unmistakable profile. SUPERIORE.DE

The first alcoholic fermentation of the must takes place in steel tanks on the fine lees at a controlled temperature and after a waiting period of at least six months, the wine is bottled. The bottles remain at a constant temperature of 12°C so that the wine can undergo its second fermentation and mature on its own yeasts, which remain at the bottom of the bottle as a light sediment (note: it is not filtered!).

Mario Schiopetto's father ran the "Ai Pompieri" osteria in Udine – directly in front of the fire station. His son did not become a landlord, but the founder of modern Friulian white wine. Years ago, the new owners, the Rotolo family, incorporated the name of their father's restaurant into their younger wine line as a nod and a promise: accessible, direct, straightforward. Since 1986, the Blanc des Rosis has brought together the four leading white grape varieties of the Collio in a single wine: Friulano as the aromatic backbone, Pinot Bianco for volume and elegance, Sauvignon for freshness and tension, Pinot Grigio for the mineral bite. The soils under Capriva del Friuli – eocene clay and marl – give the wine its characteristic cool precision. Gentle pressing, decanting without sulphur, eight months on the lees in steel. And from the 2025 vintage, the Blanc des Rosis will appear in the glass earlier than ever before without the previous two-year retention period – in the glass earlier than ever before.

Tenuta San Leonardo is a name that stands for red wine. For generations, the Guerrieri Gonzaga family in Avio, in southern Trentino, has been cultivating a Bordeaux blend that is considered by connoisseurs to be among the best wines in Italy. The fact that the house also makes white wine (and rosato) – and with the same precision – far fewer people know. Vette di San Leonardo owes its name to the peaks that surround the vineyards. Vette – summits, peaks – is the image San Leonardo has chosen for this Sauvignon Blanc: high, clear, unmistakable. The grapes come from Roveré della Luna, a village on the border between Trentino and Alto Adige, which is one of the best Sauvignon Blanc vineyards in northern Italy. The Dolomites as a backdrop, cool nights, a long ripening process on the vine. Hand-picked in September. Only steel, no wood. Five months sur lie on the fine lees – for texture and depth without external ageing.

The Rivetti family, who have long since achieved fame with La Spinetta in Piedmont, found their Tuscan terroir for Vermentino in Terricciola. Sandy soils of marine origin, interspersed with oceanic sediments, characterise this white wine with its unmistakable minerality and salty freshness. The vines grow at an altitude of 250 metres on a south-easterly exposure and are cultivated organically. After manual harvesting, the must ferments spontaneously with natural yeasts, after which the wine rests for three to four months on the fine lees in stainless steel.

There is this one moment when Graziano Merotto stops explaining and simply puts his glass down to observe his counterpart. This wine is that very special moment. Integral: undivided, unmediated, without abbreviation – bone dry.

Kretzer – that sounds rougher than the wine is. The old South Tyrolean word for rosé, once derived from the tart freshness of unripe berries, now has a completely different character: fruity, lively, with the unmistakable temperament of Lagrein. Because Lagrein is pure South Tyrol – an indigenous grape variety that has been at home between Bolzano and Terlano for centuries. As a rosé wine, it shows a side that the strong red wine does not always reveal: Lightness, freshness, accessibility. The grapes grow at an altitude of 250 to 280 metres in the flat, sunny vineyards around Terlan. Hand-picked, gentle pressing of the whole bunches, slow fermentation in steel – 6 to 7 months on the fine lees.

Elisabetta Geppetti has dedicated this rosato to a woman who came before her: Rosa Mati – the first in the family to believe in the Maremma when others were still looking the other way. A woman who invested when this wild coastal landscape in south-west Tuscany was not yet a wine region in the modern sense. This belief was the beginning of everything that Le Pupille is today. And the wine that bears her name is Elisabetta Geppetti's most personal work – unchanged in its conviction since the first vintage in 2002: 100 per cent Syrah, as a rosé. This is not an obvious choice. Syrah is known in Maremma primarily as a powerful red wine. To press it as a rosé – transparent, fresh, elegant – requires precision.

When the morning dew moistens the young Vermentino vines in Gallura, the inspiration for Lintóri – sardinian for "Rugiada del mattino". Since 2010, the traditional Capichera winery has been vinifying this deliberately freshest expression of its Vermentino portfolio from the youngest vineyards between Arzachena, Olbia and Palau. Where ancient granite formations meet sea breezes, the 100% Vermentino thrives on sandy, stony soils of volcanic origin. The hand-picked grapes from the late August harvest are matured in stainless steel to preserve their crystalline minerality.

In the Gallurese dialect of northern Sardinia, "també" means something like "that's the way it is" – a straightforward statement, a kind of silent shrug of the shoulders of the island that says it all. The brothers Fabrizio and Mario Ragnedda have given this expression to a wine that is perfectly suited to it: natural, direct, without the need for explanation. Capichera, founded in the 1970s in Arzachena, in the heart of Gallura, has shaped the history of quality Vermentino in Sardinia like no other winery. On the granite soils of the north, the land of nuraghi and maquis, the brothers built up a philosophy that still applies today: rigorous vineyard work, respect for the terroir, no compromise on quality.

Pinot Grigio is sometimes mass-produced in northern Italy. Millions of bottles, pale style, interchangeable. And then there is the Cantina Terlan, alongside a few other serious winegrowers. At 270 to 350 metres, on the gently sloping porphyry slopes around Terlan, the Ruländer – as its old, more appropriate name – tells a different story. Hand-picked, gentle pressing, slow fermentation in steel, 5-7 months on the fine lees: a vinification that gives the grape variety room to show itself.

South Tyrol's now second most important red grape variety finds its perfect stage on the sun-drenched slopes of Andriano between 300 and 450 metres above sea level. Here, where calcareous clay soils meet dolomite rock, the Burgundian aristocrat unfolds its full alpine finesse. The unique microclimate of this altitude gives the thin-skinned berries their characteristic elegance and aromatic depth. The hand-picked grapes are gently destemmed and fermented at a controlled temperature to preserve the delicate flavours. A six-month refinement in stainless steel tanks on the fine lees gives this Pinot Nero additional texture and complexity.

In 1787, Thomas Jefferson described Nebbiolo as fresh, slightly sparkling and smooth. Gian Battista Croce, court goldsmith at Casa Savoia in Turin, noted exactly the same thing back in 1606. Giuseppe Vajra came across these protocols during historical research – and understood immediately: Nebbiolo was not always the way it is drunk today. There was a time before long maceration, before large barrels, before Barolo. Claré J.C. – "J.C." stands for Juliette Colbert, the woman who revolutionised the vinification of Barolo in the 19th century – is a time capsule there. 100% Nebbiolo from young vineyards on both Langhe soils: Tortonian and Serravallian. Short maceration, gentle extraction, part fermented with whole grapes, maturation in stainless steel tanks until bottling in February. Nebbiolo in its earliest, freshest form.

"Cru di Cures" Olio Extra Vergine di Oliva Sabina DOP 2025 from Lazio is an olive oil of remarkable balance, clear in expression and with a fine, cultivated personality. Green, herbaceous and mildly fruity, it develops an elegant flavour reminiscent of fresh herbs, young leaves and the quiet spiciness of Sabina's olive groves. With grilled vegetables, pulses or simply on bruschetta, it shows all its class - an oil with origin, depth and that natural noblesse that makes great simplicity so rare. SUPERIORE.DE