It is with great pleasure that I finally sit down and create a SelectioNaturel newsletter. A newsletter that reaches out to each of you to bring you, of all things, news of the happenings, discoveries and stories behind our wines and beloved winemakers.

For those of you who've known me personally or followed SelectioNaturel from its inception almost 10 years ago, or perhaps even from the old days of when I used to run a small natural wine shop in Boston called, The Wine Bottega, you'll know that above all I love sharing the stories behind the wines I love and now sell across the US.

When I had the (crazy) idea to start a national importing company focused on bringing never before seen Italian wines to the US, I thought it would be nearly impossible, and it almost was...the amount of paperwork, time, energy, money and resources it takes and took to start even a small-scale company are not to be underestimated...but when you're in your mid-twenties you have a lot of dumbass ideas and a lot of expendable energy...plus I liked to drink wine a lot. So of course I dove in. Nearly 10 years in and not without many setbacks and some triumphs, here we are...I finally am back to writing an email newsletter that I hope you enjoy.

I didn't have a name or, gasp, "brand" for this newsletter until I sat down just now and started writing..."For the Love of Lambrusco" came out. I like it, and of course I love Lambrusco, so that's what this newsletter will be called. It won't always have to do with Lambrusco, but probably at least sometimes it will...like today...here you go, email Number 1:

(oh and of course tell all your friends, wines geek pals, sommeliers (did I spell that right?), wine shop owners and anyone who likes wine to join the email list. It's gonna be fun and it's not just for the wine trade folks, but for anyone and everyone that loves wine and stories about wine).

Okay, enough, here's the first story and it has to do with, ahem, Lambrusco!

-Malbo!
-what'd you call me?

When I started SelectioNaturel I knew I wanted to start with Lambrusco...I wanted to help reshape the narrative of this all too often bastardized, over-produced, misunderstood "category" of wine. In the US and at the wine shop I once ran, I would suggest the awesome lambrusco's we carried (Camillo Donati, Saetti, Ca' dei Noci, Vittorio Graziano, etc....(all thanks to Louis/Dressner imports by the way) and people would scoff immediately. All they could remember was a big jug their Uncle Arthur used to bring to Sunday dinner and that headache they'd have immediately after drinking the first glass....What people didn't know was 1) how difficult it was to obtain wines like Donati, Saetti, et al and 2) how amazingly complex and FUN they were to drink....especially with, I don't know, PIZZA!?

So I went on the hunt for "real" lambrusco and low and behold, I found not only some amazing, artisanal lambrusco but also some really great new friends in Modena...Campogalliano to be precise.

Podere il Saliceto is run by GianPaolo Isabella and Marcello Righj, two friends that joined forces in the early 2000's to do exactly what I wanted to do, but from the perspective of the producer....change the narrative of Lambrusco...one bottle at a time. Now, this email isn't about their amazing bottle fermented Lambrusco di Sorbara (Falistra) or their neo-traditional classic Albone, but rather this is about one of the rare still (i.e. not sparkling) red wines they make, called simply, Malbo.

Malbo is a new cuvee we've just brought into the US for the first time. It's made of 100% malbo gentile, a rare native red variety known for it's snappy acidity, punchy tannin's, dark color and rustic edge...all things I adore in wine. For years I tasted this cuvee with the Boyz in the cellar. I always liked it but I found that they were macerating and over extracting this already intense variety and they used to age in it in an old oak barrel (for lack of space more then anything else). I told them it was cool, but not for me...not yet anyway. Well, here we are some 8ish years later and, like all things Italian, it takes a LONG time to change. But change they have and the Malbo is now what I would consider a delicious and fun wine to drink and I'm really excited it's made to the US. They cut the skin maceration down to just 4-6 days and now age the wine only in their vintage 1940's cement tanks called "carati".

The revamped 2018 Malbo is bright, full of earthy, spicy freshness and a savage dark fruit core. Think properly ripened refosco or maybe even grolleau or cabernet franc from the Loire Valley...but from Emilia-Romagna of course :)

I'm really excited for this new wine from Saliceto. It shows that they are not only masters of making serious and progressive lambrusco, but that they have an attention to native grapes and traditional winemaking technique. The wine is super fun to drink and brings you right to the tiny cellar filled with the laughter and friendship of Gian Paolo and Marcello.