Andrea Picchioni Arfena 2019 75cl

Sometimes you come across an obscure blog post that triggers you. You keep reading and eventually you make an appointment with the winemaker. Your jaw drops in amazement that you didn't know the domain before and that it doesn't have a representative in Belgium. Well, that's exactly what we felt with Andrea Picchioni. Andrea started, from scratch, in 1988. His idea? To put the forgotten Buttafuoco, a sottozona in Oltrepò Pavese in Lombardy, back on the map, following in the footsteps of that one iconic magician, Lino Maga. Well, Picchioni's wines are Maga 2.0 in 2022. Picchioni's respect for the terroir is deep and, from an ecological point of view, extremely progressive. His wines are produced in a way that simply makes expectations for a vin nature pale. Examples? Sure. Weed control? By hand. Leftover grape pomace? Back to the vineyard. Yeasts? Natural, of course. Sulphites? Never used it. Malolactic fermentation in the bottle, for a red wine? Of course, is there another way? All this brings crystal clear, complex, fresh-blue-fruit-infused wines to the glass. The most convincing wines are the most honest. Andrea Picchioni's are brutally honest.