Growers / Italy / Valle d'Aosta / Nadir Cunéaz

Nadir Cunéaz

Nadir has only been commercializing his wines since 2009, but he has made immense progress since his earliest days.

Our travels in the Vallée d’Aoste have led us to several small and unexpected gems, the newest of which is the Cantina di Cuneaz Nadir. We were introduced to the young Nadir Cuneaz by Danilo Thomain in Arvier, whose Enfer d’Arvier has been a wonderful addition to our book. The Cuneaz family has a mere 0.5 hectares near the town of Gressan, reflecting a local mix of grape varieties, some of which were planted over 100 years ago. The ‘cellar’ is one of the rooms in their home, where a few small cuves and two barrels reside, and three wines are produced. We are fortunate to be able to import around 50 cases of the “Badebec”, of which less than a hundred cases are produced from two small parcels.

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Although the wine qualifies for the Torrette DOC, the locals feel that too many poor examples pass for this appellation, thus they have chosen to retain the Rosso Vallée d’Aoste designation. The wine is also unusual in that the fruit from the earlier ripening parcel is allowed to dry for two weeks after harvest, creating passito grapes, which result in roughly 2g of residual sugar in the final wine. The grapes are combined and vinified together, after which they spend a year in barrel prior to bottling. The name “Badabec” comes from the mythical monster that is said to roam the forests above Gressan and occasionally feast on misbehaving children in the village!

Farming

Lutte Raisonnée

Treatments

Synthetic treatments exceedingly rare, with no herbicides and copper-sulfate the primary means of intervention

Ploughing

Annual ploughing to maintain vineyard health

Soils

Sandy glacial moraines

Vines

Trained in Guyot and planted at 10,000 vines/ha, vines average 40 years old

Yields

Controlled through severe pruning, debudding, and an occasional green harvest

Harvest

Entirely manual, usually in early October

Sourcing

Entirely estate fruit

Fermentation

Following total destemming, wines ferment with spontaneously in stainless-steel tanks. Cuvaison lasts c. 15 days. Vin des Géants is destemmed and ferments for c. 60 days in terracotta amphora

Extraction

Wines see pumpovers during fermentation

Chaptalization

None

Pressing

Vertical basket press

Malolactic Fermentation

Spontaneous, in stainless-steel tanks or terracotta amphora following alcoholic fermentation

Élevage

Babadec and Grand Gosier spend 12 months in neutral 225-l barriques and 300-l tonneaux. Les Gosses spends 12 months in stainless-steel tanks. Vin des Géants spends 12 months in 300-l tonneaux

lees

Wines are racked off their lees following malolactic

Fining and Filtration

Wines are unfined and unfiltered

sulfur

Applied during vinification, at rackings, and at bottling, with c. 20 mg/l free sulfur

Farming

Lutte Raisonnée

Treatments

Synthetic treatments exceedingly rare, with no herbicides and copper-sulfate the primary means of intervention

Ploughing

Annual ploughing to maintain vineyard health

Soils

Sandy glacial moraines

Vines

Trained in Guyot and planted at 10,000 vines/ha, vines average 40 years old

Yields

Controlled through severe pruning, debudding, and an occasional green harvest

Harvest

Entirely manual, usually in early October

Sourcing

Entirely estate fruit

Fermentation

Following total destemming, wines ferment with spontaneously in stainless-steel tanks. Cuvaison lasts c. 15 days. Vin des Géants is destemmed and ferments for c. 60 days in terracotta amphora

Extraction

Wines see pumpovers during fermentation

Chaptalization

None

Pressing

Vertical basket press

Malolactic Fermentation

Spontaneous, in stainless-steel tanks or terracotta amphora following alcoholic fermentation

Élevage

Babadec and Grand Gosier spend 12 months in neutral 225-l barriques and 300-l tonneaux. Les Gosses spends 12 months in stainless-steel tanks. Vin des Géants spends 12 months in 300-l tonneaux

Lees

Wines are racked off their lees following malolactic

Fining & Filtration

Wines are unfined and unfiltered

Sulfur

Applied during vinification, at rackings, and at bottling, with c. 20 mg/l free sulfur

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