Tenuta Grillo

Like many of the portfolio's first Italian producer partners, Guido Zampaglione and his wife Igiea were introduced to me by Giulio Armani. Guido worked with Giulio for several vintages at La Stoppa in the '90s after his studies in enology at the Ag University in Piacenza. His time with Giulio completely shaped his thought and intentions with wine and, ultimately, changed his entire life.

Guido purchased a property in Piemonte (Monferrato) while working with Giulio. Tenuta Grillo was born in the early 2000s. The 32-hectare estate has 17 hectares planted in vines on extremely sandy, loamy soils on a flat plain about 250 meters above sea level (whopping 25k bottle production from this massive farm- some grapes are sold). Vines range from Barbera, Dolcetto, and Freisa to Cortese, Sauvignon, and Chardonnay.

At Tenuta Grillo, the goal from the beginning to take the approach of Giulio in Emilia and apply it to the rough, rugged, blue-collar zone of Piemonte – the valley floor shit, not the manicured rolling hills, Cru bs – and produce the structured wines of past that will age a lifetime. Each wine they make at Tenuta Grillo is aged as long as it needs to be. Period. Macerations range from 40-90 days. The current release for their Barbera - named IGIEA after his wife and his favorite varietal on the farm – is a 2007. The current release for the Baccabianca - made from the 60-year-old vines of Cortese lining the right side of his driveway – is 2011. The Dolcetto – 2006. You get the shtick.

My first visit to Guido, Igiea, and Tenuta Grillo was in 2015. It was brief. We stood around the woodblock island in his old kitchen. We ate bread and 1/2 inch cubes of room temp raw beef from the neighbor along with his olive. We tasted through 10 wines. My teeth were lathered tannins that somehow never escaped the 12 years already in bottle. I told him, "you make wines that will erase one's youth." It's true.

These are forever wines and they are, for certain, a dying breed in the vin nature culture. They are wines to be drunk in caves underneath the streets of Parma - not on the beach, not in Dolores park. :) (source: Brett Pallesen, Soil Expedition)