I feel that there is no other drop that resonates or vibrates as loudly or as deeply as when new releases from Le Coste arrive in town. I was chatting about this with my friend Reilly, who recently wrote a beautiful email about the project for Psychic Wines, the other evening. When wines of this power arrive en masse like this, where does one even begin, how does one unpack such density? With this many new cuvées and releases, a year would seem appropriate to even begin to unlock what these wines have to offer. I’m not sure I, nor anyone else, has that much time.
Like all of the winegrowers that get me the most excited, Le Coste have forged forward with a path all their own, and at the same time have never disregarded tradition. In their case, tradition taken from both Italian and French winemaking schools. Similar to Jean-Yves Peron’s lineup of wines that feature Italian négoce fruit vinified in the Savoie, there is a sense of transit, specifically in Clementine and Gianmarco’s wines that come from massale cuttings from their friends in France—most notably Bruno Schueller’s Pinot Noir rootstock, and recently cuttings from Yann Durieux in Burgundy—both massale selections that find themselves in the new Pinotto cuvée; a high energy carbonic maceration of Pinot Nero, with a dash of Syrah added for a level of mineral depth. But whereas JYP’s wines in that series come from purchased fruit, Clementine and Gianmarco take the source material and plant it anew, integrating new roots into their already special property above the volcanic Lago di Bolsena.
Like Cy Twombly’s Bolsena series, in which Reilly deftly compares to the Le Coste wines for her Psychic piece, the wines of Clementine Bouveron and Gianmarco Antonuzzi consistently present themselves as spiritually resonant abstractions—juices that push towards the unknown, yet always remain rooted in place.
Browse all Le Coste selections here.
Litrozzo Rosato 2020 $26
SOS Lago 2019 $38
Bianco de Coccio Anfora 2019 $48
Rosato 2019 $48
Pinotto 2019 (Pinot Noir) $48
Carbo 2018 $48
Bianco R 2018 $53
Due M 2018 $72
Primeur 2020 MAG $85
Rosato 2019 MAG $112
Le Vigne Vecchie 2011 $150
Rosato 2019 3L $315
Also, a couple of notes:
I now ship within California with a six bottle minimum. Deliveries usually go out within 24 hours of the order being placed, and take about 2-3 days to arrive.
Canta will be closed between March 1 and 15 as I will be traveling during this period. All orders placed during these dates will be delivered or shipped when I return. Thank you for understanding!
As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions or requests.
Much love,
Brian