Divella Metodo Classico Blanc de Noirs 2016

Location: Italy, Lombardy

Winemaker: Alessandra Divella

Grapes: Pinot Noir

Soil: limestone, clay

Winemaking: Spontaneously fermented half in concrete tank and half in 2nd/3rd passage barriques. Aged in barrique until tirage, with 42 months on the lees. Bottled April 2017, isgorged November 2020, with zero dosage.

From the Importer Super Glou: This zero/zero Blanc de Noirs is the supreme expression of pinot noir bottled by the estate. Made exclusively from first-press pinot noir which has been softly hand pressed with a manual wood basket press. This lavishes us with a bouquet of rich tertiary aromas on the nose and a powerful minerality and structure on the palate.

At twenty-nine-years old, Alessandra Divella is the Italian answer to grower Champagne, on track to upend the industrial farming practices rampant in Franciacorta. Her vines have been organic from the start and her two hectares, on lease for thirty years from an older neighbor, teem with life, including rosehips and praying mantises. The aim is to eventually move toward permaculture. Grapes are always hand harvested and treated gently.

Alessandra herself has a quiet confidence that belies the adrenaline rush of her wines: Chardonnay and Pinot Noir so saline and bracing they make your heart race. She does not come from a winemaking family but rather stumbled into it through interactions with winemakers that made her "feel at home." She does, however, draw from her family heritage when it comes to detail and precision: her Italian father (for which her NiNì cuvée is named) and Swiss mother (Clo Clo) are both academics.

Zero sulfur / zero dosage, Alessandra's wines are 100% méthode champenoise so dialed into their provenance of clay and limestone that your mouth will salivate for minutes (if not hours) afterward. With less than a decade of winemaking experience under her wing, Alessandra has already achieved pioneer status within the region as one of the first estates to farm organically and the first to be female-led. The exceptional level of wines produced is mind-melting, especially considering that this is only the beginning.