Monteforche, Cabernet Franc "Lo Sfuso di Collina" Padua, Veneto, Italy NV

This is a textbook vino da tavola from young, healthy vines. A blend of Cabernet Franc and a number of heirloom varietals, this spends a couple of weeks on skins before aging in cement for nine months. A spritely wine that often carries a little spritz upon opening, the nose laden with pepper, the palate full of little black fruits. A bottle to reach for time and time again.

Winemaker Alfonso Soranzo is a professional French horn player, with a degree from the Padova School of Music. In 2012, he decided to leave his career in music to devote himself - mind, body and soul - to viticulture. Returning to his family's property, helped by his father in the vineyards, he personally handles all the cellar workings. The land has been owned and cultivated by his family for several generations. Alfonso is proud to carry on the tradition and ethos of minimal intervention, no filtration or clarification, nothing added, and vinifying entirely in cement tanks.