Today, I wish to recommend an almost unknown, almost unobtainable wine, produced in very limited quantities but so good that it is worth some effort to get it.

It’s Nera dei Baisi, a variety, fortunately, rediscovered in 2002 by a renowned wine producer passionate about old autochthonous varieties: Albino Armani. The grape is named by the "Baisi" district in Terragnolo, a tiny village in Trento province. Here, only a vineyard remained of that variety, and it was also known by different names - Solara, Pignoleta Nera. The most important feature, though, was that it seemed resistant to fungal diseases - one of the curses of the wine grapes. That struck Albino’s attention, and he decided to deepen his knowledge of that grape and cultivate it in his “Land Registry of Old Grapes,” located close to his winery. I had the luck to taste one of the first bottles produced with this grape, and I’m ready to bet that it would be a hit nowadays, mainly among the younger consumer, due to its features. If you drink the wine almost cold, it tastes like melted strawberry ice cream; if it is slightly fresh, like a fruit salad of small red fruits (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries); if at room temperature, the wine has flavors and taste of fresh crushed strawberries with nuance of fresh wild mint. No matter how you consume it, it’s always delightful and drinkable (alcohol is just 12%). I’m also ready to bet that “Nera dei Baisi” would be greatly appreciated even by those who keep themselves far from red wine just because of their tannins. This red wine has no tannins - or, if it has, they are so soft and silky you don’t perceive them.

Funny fact: traveling in other Italian wine production regions, I stumbled upon at least two other different red wines with similar characteristics, the Camaiola (also known in the past as “Barbera del Sannio”) in the Campania region and the Sicilian Vitrarolo made with an ancient native grape. Those wines have the same characteristics as the sweet strawberry (and other small red berries) fruitiness of Nera dei Baisi. Who knows, maybe they also have - at some genetic level - something in common with it.

In the meantime, we can enjoy “Nera dei Baisi,” the perfect wine for summer, spring, fall, and winter. For everybody and every day.