100% Passerina. Organic, Biodynamic. 60+ year-old vines of Passerina, which are taken from various Cesanese old vine vineyards, where they’re often interplanted. Fermented and aged for at least one year entirely in stainless steel. Like a lovely, verbana-tinted baby Chablis. Passerina del Frusinate is a textural white, soft and creamy rather than minerally and acidic. Straw-colored with stone fruit aromas, full flavor and character.

La Visciola, in Piglio in southern Lazio, is a hidden treasure. The small four hectare estate is owned and operated by vignaiolo Piero Macciocca, in tandem with his wife Rosa and daughters Cecilia and Elisia. All of the Macciocca family’s vines of Cesanese were planted in the 1960s, and they’ve been farmed organically since then, and biodynamically since 2005. There is vibrancy in the vineyards. This is a pocket of Italy where old traditions have not been forgotten. Indeed the notion of monoculture is almost laughable in this rural appellation of Piglio, which hasn’t yet fully been revealed. It’s simple stuff on the surface, but the very best part of the Macciocca family’s work is the hard-to-believe beauty of the wines.