MCF Rare Wine

Caves de Donnas Barmet: A High-Altitude Nebbiolo Gem

Caves de Donnas is one of Italy's great producers...sorry, one of Italy's great co-op producers...

...well, it's really both - it's a cooperative producer who happens to be a gem among gems.  

They make just three wines - their flagship red, which is a blend of Nebbiolo, Neyret and Freisa, a rosato of Nebbiolo, and this wine, the Barmet, a fragrant, airy, flat-out delicious glass of Alpine Nebbiolo.

And, when it comes to pound-for-pound Nebbiolo value, alongside our old standard, the Cantalupo Agamium, it is one of the best.

The Vallée d'Aoste, the French-speaking region of Italy that borders Switzerland and France, has long been a hidden wealth of fresh, racy, herbaceous reds and whites made from a laundry list of native grapes that you don't see all that much elsewhere.

But Nebbiolo, known locally as Picotendro, does fabulous things here as well...unlike the more strapping wines you get in the Langhe or the soaring, electric wines you get in Alto Piemonte, in the Aoste, it's all about elegant, flowery red fruit that's teeming with herbal and mineral nuance. 

The Barmet, with it's super-cool Art Deco-fonted label, is just a fresh, genuine, happy glass of flowery mountain Nebbiolo...and I'm kind of in love with it...and I'm more than a little certain that you'll be, as well. 

It's so delicious and easy ('easy' in the laid-back kinda way...not the unchallenging way), so versatile, so...just...exactly-what-you-want-y that just writing about it makes me want to crack a bottle and relax. 

This has to be one of the shortest emails I've ever written...

You may order by emailing info@mcf-rarewine.com or calling 212.255.8870.

Matt Franco

MCF Rare Wine, Ltd

249 West 13th Street NYC 10011

212.255.8870