INSIDER'S PICK: 2019 FRA. SERIO & BATTISTA BORGOGNO NASCETTA LANGHE $26.99

Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We are also doing both a white and a red option each week, with the white wine available for the discount on Thursday and Friday, while the red wine available on Friday and Saturday. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.

We don't often get to use the word 'Unicorn' to describe a wine (meaning that it's so rare it's like spotting a unicorn) being featured in the Insider's Pick, but this would definitely be in the discussion to qualify. The nice thing is, it isn't priced anywhere close to what those unicorns usually would be. The Borgogno family is one of the most important in Barolo, family owned and run for over 120 years and instrumental in elevating the Cannubi vineyard to one of the top Crus in the region. Nascetta is a native grape to the Piedmont, but rarely named in blends much less featured (our only example in the store has been as part of the Luigi Baudana 'Dragon' Langhe Bianco), and always in very small amounts. Hopefully this historic grape is getting a boost in planting, because the quality of wine it makes is quite exemplary, especially in the hands of such great winemakers. Round rich aromatics of dried white fruits and cooling mint touched with savory herbs, and a powerful texture on the palate without the need for oak aging or malolactic butteriness. Unctuous dried fruits with lots of minerality and skin tannins give the flavor and finish lots of intensity, capable of standing up to lots of robust pork and poultry dishes. Needless to say, this won't be around for very long....

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