Tag: natural wine

Gracefully aged Valtellina

Published 11. April 2025 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

My daughter was born in 1999. Many years ago I collected a case of wines to give her at her 18th birthday. The last of these we had the opportunity to enjoy together last week.

High in the northern reaches of Lombardy, where the Alps rise toward Switzerland, lies Valtellina – a region often overlooked in favour of its more famous Nebbiolo siblings from Piemonte. But for those who take the time to explore it, Valtellina offers singular wines that speak softly but persistently. One such wine is Il Pettirosso, made by Ar.Pe.Pe., a family producer whose dedication to alpine Nebbiolo is both steadfast and poetic.

Ar.Pe.Pe. stands for Arturo Pelizzatti Perego, the man who, in 1984, reclaimed the family’s historic vineyards and gave new life to a tradition dating back to the 1860s. Today, the winery is in the hands of his children – Isabella, Emanuele, and Guido – who continue to work the steep terraces of Sassella and Grumello with a mix of devotion and defiance. In these dramatic landscapes, handwork isn’t just a choice, it’s a necessity.

Il Pettirosso is often seen as the most graceful expression in the Ar.Pe.Pe. range – low sulphite, spontaneous fermentation, a cuvée that blends fruit from both Sassella and Grumello, and aged in large old botti before further ageing in bottle. It is not the most powerful wine, nor the most structured. But what it offers is clarity, nuance, and a kind of unforced beauty that rewards patience.

Il Pettirosso 1999 (Ar.Pe.Pe.)

Pale brick red with amber highlights, translucent and delicate. The nose opens with dried rose petals, truffle, orange peel and forest floor, followed by a gentle smokiness and a whisper of Alpine herbs. On the palate, the wine is featherlight yet persistent, with fine, resolved tannins and a graceful acidity that carries flavours of sour cherry, tea leaf, and balsamic nuances. The finish is long, echoing the wine’s mountain origins and meditative age. A wine not of volume, but of resonance.

Price: Medium

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Wine bars and restaurants

Barcelona’s Bar Brutal

Published 6. April 2025 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

A night at Bar Brutal is never just a dinner—it’s a performance. An ever-evolving stage for natural wine, where flavour pairings are exploratory rather than prescriptive, and the sommelier often plays as crucial a role as the chef. On this occasion, guided by the sharp and intuitive Sebastián, I tasted through four wines against three small plates—an informal experiment that revealed unexpected harmonies and tensions.

Bar Brutal, also known as Can Cisa, is one of Barcelona’s pioneering natural wine bars. Opened in 2013 in the El Born district, it was founded by Joan Valencia (of Cuvée 3000) together with Max and Stefano Colombo of Xemei. The focus is on organic and low-intervention wines from Spain and beyond, paired with a lively, Mediterranean-inspired kitchen that highlights seasonal produce.

Kazu 2023 (Umineko Jozo)

From vineyards in Conca de Barberà and Penedès, this wine poured a hazy, pale pinkish-grey—grapefruit juice with a faint golden cast. The nose was floral and citrus-led, with subtle hints of fresh herbs. On the palate, it showed unexpected weight, balanced by clean acidity and a slight phenolic grip. It worked beautifully with zamburiñas—small scallops served with smoky butter and herbs—bringing out a soft sweetness in the shellfish and lending structure without overwhelming the dish.

Jaumet 2023 (Jaume Prats)

From Santa Margalida on Mallorca, made from the red nanto negro, calley and fogoneu, and the white premsal, malvasía and moscatel. Slightly deeper in hue, Jaumet offered aromas of citrus peel and dried orange, with a faint oxidative edge. Its structure was taut and precise, marked by bracing acidity and a long, blood orange finish. It paired brilliantly with mojama—salt-cured tuna—where its sharpness sliced through the dense, iron-rich fish, and the wine’s bitterness mirrored the umami-laden finish of the dish. One of the evening’s most compelling pairings.

Vent Debout 2024 (Domaine Yoyo)

A carignan from Languedoc-Roussillon, direct press, fermented in inox and short time in barriques of 6th use. Clean and pink but bordering on copper, this rosé smelled of raspberry and wild strawberry. Though fruit-driven on the nose, it showed a firm backbone and a savoury streak that came into focus with food. Sebastián confidently recommended it with labneh, and he was right. The creamy, tangy yoghurt seemed made for the wine’s structured acidity. A pairing that felt both precise and generous—like a well-judged chord with just enough tension to be interesting.

Rød 2023 (Bodega Frontio)

Rød, meaning red in Danish, is a garnacha made by Thyge “Chus” Jensen in Arribes. A deep cherry-red wine, Rød was fragrant with red berries—cherry and raspberry—alongside dried herbs and a touch of earth. On the palate, it was fresh and quietly structured, with fine tannins and well-integrated acidity. I had saved a slice of mojama for this wine, and it was a surprisingly successful match. The salt and depth of the tuna played against the wine’s herbal core and supple fruit. With rustic bread and good olive oil, the whole combination felt grounded, unpretentious and complete.

Bar Brutal continues to live up to its name—raw, real, and a little chaotic in the best way. With Sebastián as guide, the wines led the conversation, and the food responded in kind. It was not a menu, but a dialogue—one in which the wines were given room to speak, and where not all pairings needed to resolve. Sometimes, tension is the most expressive note of all.

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Wine of the Week

Jura with the Mont d’Or

Published 15. November 2024 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

This exceptional white wine from Jura was served in a private dinner a couple of weeks ago. It was paired with a vacherin mont d’or, one of the region’s formidable cheeses.

It was aged for more than 36 months under a veil of yeast (“sous voile”), and shows a delicate balance between the nutty richness of a vin jaune and the fruitiness of a young savagnin.

Grown in clay soils the savagnin grape is perfect for oxidative winemaking without fortification. The result is a wine with a complex flavour, reminiscent of a fino sherry, but without the added alcohol.

Savagnin Sous Voile 2019 (B&STissot)

Light golden. Oxidation notes with nuts, dried fruits, salt- and a flowery note. Rich in the mouth, concentrated with good acidity, and good length. It’s both delicate and full of depth.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Radikon at Bellies

Published 8. November 2024 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Bellies is probably Norway’s best vegan restaurant, which focuses on natural wine. In connection with their 5 year anniversary, they had invited the iconic producer Saša Radikon from Friuli, for a winemaker’s dinner.

The staff at Bellies had made impressive pairings between their “full bellies” menu and Radikon’s wines. Jakot 2018, made with 3 months skin-contact, was perfect with a sauce rich in umami, where I normally would chose a sherry, just to name one example.

It was an unbelieveable line-up of wines, that included mature wines such as Merlot 2006 and Pignolo 2011. The evening’s revelation for me was the Ribolla 3781 in the 2007 vintage. Pairing-wise it was an easy match for this wine, as it was set up with a plate of mushrooms – and could have managed much more demanding ingrediences. Anyway, it gave the wine an opportunity to shine. And it did.

Here is some background. Radikon’s 12-hectare estate is located in Oslavia in the far north-east of Friuli Venezia, literally on the border with Slovenia. Radikon has a natural approach, where everything is done without the use of artificial or chemical aids. All grapes are harvested manually and fermented in tanks of Slavonian oak. The soil is called ponka, or ponca, very rich in minerals. It has a large proportion of gray and blue marl, occasionally mixed with clay. Deposits from old rivers and seas have produced a high content of lime. Ponka produces wines with both weight and freshness.

3781 is the number of the parcel below the cellar. The wine from here is produced only in the best years. It’s a varietal ribolla gialla, made with 3 months of maceration, then 4 years in oak and 10 years in bottle. It comes in a one liter bottle.

Ribolla 3781 2007 (Radikon)

The colour is golden with copper. Aroma of dried peach and apricot, curry and baked apple – almost like a well-matured cheese. Smooth in the mouth with high glycerin, rich, seamless, with an integrated acidity and great length. It has an autumnal air, still full of energy. This is a unique wine. It’s perfect, legendary.

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Wine of the Week

Fabulous Foillard

Published 4. October 2024 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

This wine was from the same Morgon theme tasting as last week’s wine. Jean Foillard is a favourite on these pages. See fx here.

Côte du Py is a prestigious slope in the outskirts of the village of Villié-Morgon, that gives name to the Morgon cru. The soil is decomposed schist, rich in ferrour oxide and called morgons.

Domaine Jean Foillard is a family-run winery founded in the 1980s by Jean Foillard, who took over the estate from his father. Foillard was one of the so-called gang of four, vintners that were inspired by the teachings of natural wine guru Jules Chauvet. The majority of the 14 hectares of vines on the estate are found in the Côte du Py.

The wine is made with natural viticulture and vinification techniques, without the use of herbicides or pesticides, and with minimal sulphur additions. Some keywords: Hand-harvest, whole cluster maceration and fermentation with indigenous yeasts. The wine was raised a good half year in used oak barrels.

Morgon Côte du Py 2022 (Jean Foillard)

Deep cold cherry colour. Intense aroma of cherry, with chalk and earth. Though concentrated it also has a layer of fresh raspberry and flowers on top. Quite powerful in the mouth, with young tannins, fresh fruit, an integrated acidity. Fabulous wine that currently is good with food, but will probably benefit from 5-6 more years.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Oslavje from Oslavia

Published 12. April 2024 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Radikon is a classic in the natural wine world. I took this bottle from my own cellar last week for a dinner with wine.

The winery is located in Oslavia in the Italian province of Gorizia, on the Slovenian border. The company owns 18 hectares of vineyards on steep slopes. Stanislao (Stanko) Radikon took over in 1980 and now runs the winery with his wife Suzana and their son Saša. They don’t use chemical additives at all and reduce treatments to a minimum, both in the vineyards and in the cellar.

The yields are unbelievably low, something like 4 or 5 bunches per vine. The background information that I have for this wine says 60% chardonnay and 40% sauvignon. I would have guessed some pinot grigio, as I am quite sure there is some red in there. Let’s investigate a bit on that. After de-stemming the grapes was put in oak vats, where maceration went with 3 or 4 daily stirrings. At the end of the alcoholic fermentation the vats were filled and the wine stayed in contact with the skins until December. After racking the wine rested in casks (25 to 35 hl), for about 36 months. Bottling was made without any filtration or clarification, in one liter and half liter bottles, with no added SO2.

Oslavje 2012 (Radikon)

Copper coloured, slightly cloudy. Perfumed aroma with orange peel, mango and a touch volatile acidity at first (giving way to something honeyed). Full-bodied with a dry mouthfeel, good concentration and a high acidity, lots of fruit, and a long aftertaste. It’s a wine with a lot of nerve and tension, and an underlying cool sweetness, though technically dry.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

A for Amazing

Published 8. March 2024 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

I had met Pedro Coelho several times at the Simplesmente Vinho fair in Porto, and I have tasted a few wines now and then. This year I took the opportunity to taste the whole range. Which I don’t regret. I knew his white Douro wines were extraordinary. But his rosé and reds were outstanding too.

Pedro uses only old vineyards, always spontaneous fermentations and minimal intervention. He picks early to obtain the best possible natural acidity, and the alcohol levels are generally low. A vividness and vibrancy shines through in all his wines. The Pormenor winery is located in Barcos on the left bank in Cima Corgo, but he sources grapes from high altitudes in several parts of the Douro.

I could have picked anything for this column, but I finally chose a quite unusual white. A de Arinto is exactly that, a varietal arinto from 40 year old vines in granite with clay – at 650 meters altitude in the Alijó area. It underwent a 12 hours maceration in neutral oak with whole bunches, before a gentle extraction. It clocks in at 12% alcohol.

A de Arinto 2022 (Pormenor)

Pale yellow colour. Aroma of mature lemon, some apricot and minerals. Lively, fresh acidity with a waxy, spicy fruit, and a long, salty finish. It is balanced and appealing now, but has an acidity to keep.

Price: Medium

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Articles

Simplesmente Vinho 2024 – Introduction and Georgia Day

Published 7. March 2024 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

I am back from another rewarding visit to Simplesmente Vinho in Porto. They call themselves an off-salon, an alternative event. But the fair has long since become important in itself. And needless to say, it’s always worth a visit. Simplesmente Vinho showcases smaller family businesses, and it’s a perfect opportunity to keep up with the wine trade of the country. Music and arts is a part of it. Every year they invite artisans from one specific wine producing country. This year Georgia was honoured with a whole day with an impressive program. This was the 12th edition of the fair, now held in the historic toll building Alfândega do Porto. Nowadays this is a convention center down by the Douro river, a comfortable and spacious site perfect for the event. Thanks to primus motor João Roseira and his staff, several of whom happen to be among his own family!

The twelfth edition presented 112 vignerons from Portugal and Spain, and a further 11 from Georgia. It started one day earlier, with a special program: a conference, the film “Our Blood is Wine” by Jeremy Quinn, and a tasting of wines from the Georgian guests to the fair. Attention was also drawn to the Portuguese talha wines, today kept alive in Alentejo. Choir singing is another cultural feature that Georgia shares with Alentejo, and the Georgian ensemble Shvidkatsa appeared during the charity art auction held during that day’s official dinner.

Here are just a few of the many wonderful Georgian wines from that first night.

Zurab Topuridze of winery Iberieli was one of the speakers. At the fair he presented several elegant wines. Among them was Saperavi 2022, in a light style not so often seen. The grapes were de-stemmed, and there was a careful ten days maceration. This resulted in a ruby red, raspberry fruity, fresh and appealing wine.

Iberieli operates both in Guria region of Western Georgia, where they manage 2 hectars of young vineyards, and in Kakheti in the east, where they have 5 ha of mixed ages. The name Iberieli refers to the ancient people in Caucasus, ancestors of Georgians, who are believed to be the first winemakers.

Cousins Ilia and Archil represent the fourth generation of wine producers at Meskhishvili. In spite of this they started only in 2018 to produce wine commercially, with the construction of a small winery near Lake Lisi, in the outskirts of Tbilisi. They work vineyards with a minimum of 40 years in Kakheti, naturally with minimal intervention. The vinification process takes place in qvevri. While Ilia lives back home in Georgia, Archil didn’t have to travel far, as he now is running his own restaurant in Caldas da Rainha, on the Portuguese coast. Their Venero Rosé 2022 from saperavi was a real charmer; light ruby, with red fruits, completed with grape seed, and very fresh fruits in the mouth. Lisi Wine 2021 from the khikhvi grape was light amber in colour, rich, somewhat honeyed with apricot, careful tannins. It tended towards bitterness in the end, strengthening its gastronomic potential.

Ramaz Nikoladze is a pioneer of West-Georgian qvevri wines, and president of the Georgian slow food movement. The winery is built on the site of his great grandfather’s vineyard, in the village of Nakhshirgele, in Imereti. He manages 1.5 ha of vineyards of organically grown tsitska and tsolikouri grapes, ranging from four to 100 years old. Fermentation and aging is carried out naturally in qvevri, without skins for tsitska grapes, and with skins for tsolikouri grapes. His Tsitska 2022 was a superb light yellow coloured wine, with both flowery and mineral aromas, and with a fresh acidity to match. A bit more textured, and peach-scented, was Tsoulikouri 2022, a fabulous wine that carried with it a sense of Georgian history and tradition.

The tram in Ribeira, between the Alfândega and my hotel

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Wine of the Week

This is not a love song

Published 23. February 2024 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

This wine was offered in a private club tasting last Monday. It’s a low alcohol-high freshness wine. In fact the acidity is almost as insisting as the Public Image Ltd song of the same name. It should work well then, with risottos, rcreamy pastas or with tasty Austrian sausages.

It comes from 80 year old vines in Steiner Schreck, the steepest of all Kremstal sites, and is farmed biodynamically. We are around 320 meters above sea level, and the subsoil consists of gneiss and granite.

The grapes were pressed very slowly for two days in a self-made tree press. The pressing process itself is reductive, but afterwards the juice was deliberately exposed to oxidation. The juice was fermented spontaneously and aged for two and a half years on the lees in an amphora made in Bordeaux. During fermentation, a tiny percentage destemmed grapes were added, to restart the fermentationvim in an intercellular way, like in carbonic maceration. The wine was lightly sulphured.

This is not a Love Song 2020 (Heidelinde & Markus Lang)

Light golden yellow. Concentrated aromas of gooseberry, green apples, flowers, lemon and a touch of herbs. On the palate it’s structured from the acidity, and a fine-grained texture from the terracotta. It’s got a touch of price and saltiness. It’s a wine with tension and electricity.

Price: High

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Wine of the Week

An albillo with personality

Published 5. January 2024 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

La Chanin was presented by the sommelier of La Gracia bar in Murcia as a super cool orange wine. And it sure was. Orange wines can lack interest if they just have some extra skin-contact and miss the acidity to match. This one had the underlying concentration and excelled in electricity and vividness.

Silvia and Kike Srados started their Cható Gañán project in 2014. It was born out of the need to take care of and restore the respect for the old garnacha and albillo vines of Cebreros, where the whole family lives. This is a way to honour all those farmers and peasants -gañanes- who have preserved the exceptional old vineyards that the bodega can now enjoy and work with.

The wine is made of albillo real grapes from a century-old vineyard, at about 780 meters of altitude, with granite soil and a large presence of quartz. It is completely destemmed and left with skins for approximately three weeks. Spontaneous fermentation starts with native yeasts. It is made in stainless steel and lees are stirred for five months. It is also aged for five months in French barrels of various uses. Natural stabilization was secured by the cold. The wine is not clarified or filtered. Just a minimal dose of added sulfur. Bottled, labeled and sealed by hand.

La Chanin 2020 (Cható Gañán)

Deep golden colour, almost amber. Mature apples, apricots, yeast, iodine and a touch of honey. Full on the palate, good concentration, slight tannin, and the acidity contributes to an electric, vivid sensation. A slight bitterness towards the end. It hints to an amontillado too, and surely has a great personality

Price: Medium

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