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Tenuta Selvadolce

VB1 Vermentino 2019

Price: $45.95
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Tasting notes

Eight months of skin contact on 40-plus-year-old Vermentino vines gives VB1 a depth that almost no other Ligurian white can claim — amber-hued, with dried apricot and pine needle on the nose and a long, saline-mineral finish that recalls the sea just below the terraces. It reportedly is Nicolas Joly's favorite wine from the estate, and tasting it makes that easy to believe.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
Dried ApricotHoneySalineAlmond
  • Style: Orange wine; amber with orange reflections; dried apricot, pine needle, saline finish; 13% ABV
  • Grapes & Terroir: 100% Vermentino; vines planted 1970s; biodynamic; calcareous-clay terraces, ~150m asl, Bordighera, Liguria
  • Winemaking: Spontaneous native yeast fermentation; 8-month skin maceration in used barrique; aged in barrique + 6+ months bottle; unfiltered, unfined, minimal sulfites
  • Serving: Serve at 50-54F; open 20-30 min before serving; large white wine glass
  • Pairing: Trofie al pesto, grilled branzino, baccala, aged pecorino, olive oil-based pasta
  • Similar To: For fans of Radikon, Dario Princic, or skin-contact whites with real structure and saline depth

VB1 Vermentino is a 100% Vermentino orange wine from Tenuta Selvadolce, located in the hills above Bordighera in the far western corner of Liguria, a few kilometers from the French border. The vineyards, planted in the 1970s by Aris Blancardi's grandfather, sit on calcareous-clay terraces at roughly 150 meters above sea level. The estate falls under the Riviera Ligure di Ponente DOC and spans about seven hectares, farmed entirely without pesticides or chemical fertilizers using biodynamic preparations 500 and 501.

In the cellar, the VB1 undergoes spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts directly in used barriques, with skin maceration lasting 8 months. The wine then ages in barrique before at least 6 months of bottle aging. It is bottled unfiltered and unfined, with only minimal sulfites added. The name VB1 stands for Vermentino, Barrique, and 1 year — a straightforward description of what happens to the wine.

The result is amber in color with orange reflections. On the nose it opens with dried apricot, honey, yellow flowers, pine needle, and balsamic notes, with sage and thyme from the surrounding Mediterranean scrub. The palate is fresh, mineral, and saline, with a soft tannin grip and a long finish of toasted almond and dried fruit. This is a structured wine that rewards patience — it benefits from at least 20 minutes of air before serving and continues to evolve in the glass.

Pair with the Ligurian classics: trofie al pesto, grilled branzino with herbs, or baccala. The wine's saline-mineral backbone also works well alongside aged sheep's milk cheeses and dishes built around olive oil and pine nuts. Avoid very delicate or butter-forward preparations — this wine has enough texture and tannin to need some substance on the plate.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Orange Wine
Wine Style:, Medium Body
Grapes:, Vermentino
Farming:, Organic and Biodynamic
Vintage:, 2019
Alcohol:, 13%
Country:, Italy
Region:, Liguria
Appellation:, Riviera Ligure di Ponente DOC
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


Important Compliance Requirements

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If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


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Placed an order. What next?

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2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

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If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Tenuta Selvadolce

Tenuta Selvadolce is a seven-hectare estate on the hillsides above Bordighera, in the westernmost part of Liguria near the French border. The property had operated as a flower farm — growing carnations and other cut flowers — since the time of Aris Blancardi's great-grandparents. Aris's grandfather later planted the Vermentino and Pigato vineyards that the estate still farms today. The first wine vintage was released in 2007.

Aris Blancardi trained as a veterinarian, earning a degree from Tufts University in Boston and working as a horse vet before returning to the family property in the early 2000s. After taking coursework in viticulture and horticulture and studying closely with Nicolas Joly — a central figure in biodynamic viticulture in France — Aris converted Selvadolce to biodynamic farming in 2004. The estate uses biodynamic preparations 500 and 501, avoids all pesticides and chemical fertilizers, and manages the seven hectares of terraced vineyards by hand.

In the cellar, Aris applies the same non-interventionist philosophy. All fermentations are spontaneous, relying on indigenous yeasts from the estate. The VB1 is fermented and macerated on skins for 8 months in used barriques, then aged further in barrique and a minimum of 6 months in bottle before release. No fining or filtration is applied. Sulfite additions are kept to a minimum. The wine's name encodes its method: Vermentino, Barrique, 1 year.

Wine region

Liguria, Italy

Liguria runs along the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Italy in a narrow arc, stretching roughly 150 kilometers from the French border at its western end to La Spezia in the east. The region is sometimes called the Italian Riviera. It is one of Italy's smallest wine regions, with only about 6,000 hectares under vine. The Ligurian Alps and Apennines rise steeply from the coast, pushing vineyards onto terraced hillsides where all work must be done by hand. The maritime climate provides mild winters and warm summers tempered by constant sea breezes — at Selvadolce, the Maestra wind off the Mediterranean moderates the heat of the Riviera sun.

The Riviera Ligure di Ponente DOC covers the western half of Liguria, from the French border through the provinces of Imperia and Savona. Soils are predominantly calcareous and clayey-sandy, free-draining, and low in organic matter, which naturally limits vine vigor. Vermentino and Pigato — the latter being a local biotype of Vermentino — are the main white grapes of the appellation and must each make up a minimum of 95 percent in their respective varietal wines. Rossese and Granaccia are the principal red varieties. The combination of poor limestone soils, steep slopes, and sea influence gives the wines of this DOC their distinctive mineral and saline character.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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