Podere Ruggeri Corsini Autenzio, Albarossa, 2021, Piedmont DOC, Italy

Authentic, spectacular, & goes the distance. Just like an albatross, um, Albarossa.

You read albatross, didn’t you? So did we but that we kept finding links between the majestic seafaring birds and Nicola’s Albarossa: spectacular, goes the distance and rare. Squeaking out a mere 2,000 bottles, Nicola and Loredana dedicate this small n’ mighty to her papà, Autenzio, who by the looks of it, was probably a softie on the inside. A love child of Nebbiolo di Dronero and Barbera made by Giovanni Dalmasso, professor at the University of Agriculture of Turin in 1938, Albarossa is as fleshy and structured as its superstar parents with a touch of floral flair and ages 24 months in Slavonian and French oak barrels before it completes its ruby dive into your glass.

Loredana Addari and Nicola Argamante decided they'd enough of their jobs in the city, so they packed it all in, studied winemaking and bought a tiny vineyard in Monforte d'Alba. They upgraded the traditional estate into an eco-friendly haven by adopting lighter bottles, handpicking, solar panels and natural wastewater purification, and by massively reducing the use of chemical treatments and sulphur.