2019 Gianfranco Fino ES Riserva

The Michelin Guide for restaurants, the Vini d'Italia from publisher Gambero Rosso for the best Italian wines. The latest edition, which judges wine quality and its consistency over the years, was recently published. Michelin awards stars, Gambero Rosso awards glasses. Tre Bicchieri (3 glasses) is the ultimate assessment. The guide is 1,000 pages long, reviews 2,350 producers, and over 10,000 wines. This guide remains the leading wine reviewer in Italy, and Gianfranco Fino's wines have been voted the absolute number one.

According to Freud, Es is: "instinct and unbridled passion (the same with which this wine is produced), without rules, without limitations, beyond space, time, logic and morality. It knows no good or bad. Es is subject to a single principle: "PLEASURE." Gianfranco Fino founded this estate in 2004 when he purchased a 50-year-old Primitivo vineyard. Despite its recent beginnings, the estate is already a benchmark in the region. The wines have already achieved cult status among wine journalists and aficionados. Extreme quality. 100% Primitivo. Micro-production of 7,000 bottles.

The ES Red, or ES Riserva, is the flagship of this magnificent wine and is only produced in top vintages like 2018 and 2019. An absurdly low yield creates an unprecedented wine from the Primitivo grape. The Primitivo grapes for Gianfranco ES come from a very small vineyard, but what makes it truly unique (and therefore explains the price) is that an average of only 200 grams of grapes are harvested per vine . Aggressive pruning leaves only a few bunches on the vine, but these receive all the nutrients the old vines produce from deep within the soil. The wine is grown according to biodynamic principles. The ES Riserva contains the finest grapes from the best plots in its vineyard.

When the time is ripe, the withered grapes are harvested by hand in plastic crates, with careful bunch selection, and transported in a refrigerated truck. The grapes are destemmed, very gently crushed, macerated in stainless steel tanks for 3-4 weeks, the skins in contact with the must, the cap temperature is controlled, and the wine is subjected to two daily delestages, followed by gentle pressing of the skins with a hydraulic vertical crusher. After approximately 12 months of oak aging, the wine is bottled without the use of fining agents and then aged for a further four years (48 months) in the bottle before release (so this vintage will not be available until 2024/2025). Only around 800-1,000 bottles of the ES Riserva are produced, and it is classified as OWC/1.

FACT: In the tab: Attachment, you'll find the official fact sheet for this fine wine. We'll automatically send it to you when you order this wine. The wine is stored in our climate-controlled Wine Warehouse, and if you pick it up, you'll also receive a nice discount.