A visit with Renata at Slow Foods Italy

Renata Bonacina, dacapo wines

I had to catch up with Renata and Giovanni at Slow Wine Bologna the moment I arrived, because they were sneaking out early to catch a plane to Copenhagen, Denmark, and then Malmo, Sweden. Yet more wine events bekon. I’m glad dacapo are doing a brisk business in Scandinavia. I know it has been a challenging series of years for many small farmers whose wines we import. Dacapo is no exception. Their cellar and vineyard work have transformed the property, setting Renata and Giovanni up for reaching a new plateau of quality in years ahead. But all that hard work required cash, and the Covid weakened many wine markets in Italy. 

In spite of all the challenges facing winemakers today (drought, expensive bottles, wobbly restaurants) the couple were in good spirits. I love how much Giovanni smiles. He has the easy demeanor of a man thoroughly enjoying his honest vineyard work. He’s already got a good summertime tan. Farming is a second career for him. His first line of corporate work brought the couple for a time to live in North Carolina! It’s nice to talk with Italians who understand in greater detail where we’re from.   

With time in short supply, we dove into tasting wine. 

New Arrivals:

2020 Ruché di Castagnole Monferrato smells like raspberry and Dr. Pepper to me. Also roses and violets. Then black pepper, and cinnamon. There’s loads going on! If you are fond of aromatic reds with some texture and ripeness, look no further. Ruché can be high in alcohol, this bottling comes in at a very moderate 13.5%. Drinking this makes me want Vietnamese-style crispy quail, rubbed in fish sauce and sugar, and then grilled. I also love eating tiny birds in general. Makes me feel like a giant. 

2017 Nizza DOCG Nizza is a cru for Barbera. This is an exciting development, a development that began in 2014. The wines must be grown in a certain elevation range within the designated Nizza zone. The sites can’t be north facing. Renata’s Nizza (100% Barbera) comes from a vineyard planted in 1960. Maximum permissible yields are low, nine tons per hectare. Renata’s old parcel yields a scant six tons per hectare. The 2017 vintage was shaped by high summertime temperatures and no rain for three months (in that regard, similar to 2022.)  

2016 Barbera MAGNUMS You will remember this wine from 2021, when 750ml bottles of it were abundant in our storehouse. Delightful as it was, magnums always seem to taste better. The smaller bottles seemed to be at peak maturity to me, in this format the wine is a little more leading-edge of ideal drinkability. Anyway, what a bargain! You spend hours planning a perfect northern Italian menu for a dinner party with family and friends, why wouldn’t you want the wine to make an impression, too?

It was such a short visit with one of our closest wine allies. It’s more common to hang out at dacapo for a week and watch the harvest begin, or to have Renata in North Carolina for a flurry of wine dinners and customer visits. I prefer having a few days to reconnect. But a dacapo sighting is still a bright point in my work life. I’m glad the wines are returning to North Carolina, just a few days after this happy moment.