I greet you with warm Thanksgiving wishes and promises, and a final report on the growing season, based on patient weeks of appraising the quality produced by each of our vineyard parcels. In a year of famous meteorological challenges to vineyards throughout the Commonwealth, we were fortunate to emerge with most of our losses confined to volume of production, with only limited effect on quality.


             

 

In the whites, you should look forward to Very Good aromatics, acidity, and medium structure. Quality in the reds was firmly Good across the range, with significant parcels of Excellence in our varietals of highest demand, underscoring the advantages also of the growing sites selected for them — Nebbiolo (appraised here by viticulturist Fernando Franco), Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. From that class, Cabernet Sauvignon was the sole disappointment, yielding a fragrant but simpler wine. As with certain previous vintages, Octagon 2020 will be based upon Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot only.


Already, my associates, Daniele Tessaro and Fernando Franco, and I can report great satisfaction with our collegial tastings in the 2019 and 2020 vintages, which always guide the pursuit of Octagon in the winery. From this perspective, we do wish to express sincere Thanksgiving wishes after this strenuous year, which only inspires further concentration in producing the finest wine we can. For the holiday season, we propose three wines which surely reflect that standard, as I further explain in this brief video, part of a series we've been issuing this year.


            
             
       
 

Probably the first and most widely to be served of these wines, is our Brut Blanc de Blancs Non-Vintage sparkling wine, 100% Chardonnay. We create the wine by the metodo classico in collaboration with our sister winery in Oltrepò Pavese, in our own distinct style of bright acidity and multi-layered complexity. At last, we are sufficiently in stock with this wine to meet everyone’s demand this holiday season, and there will be no rationing. Is the Vermentino Reserve the fastest-uncellared wine we produce, whenever thoughts turn to celebratory dining? Or is it just that it has broken my vow of silence on which of our wines are my favorites? The 2019 vintage sustained a fantastically constant trajectory of adaptation to our vineyard and to our winemaking culture, through 10 consecutive growing seasons.

What is a Thanksgiving without the greatest gratitude? Octagon 2016 is now in full release at the winery and everywhere we ship, via our web shop. Famous for having been named to James Suckling’s list of Top 100 American Wines for 2018, and holding the Double Gold Medal of the San Francisco Competition, with 95 Points, here is an example of Octagon without Cabernet Sauvignon, being composed of 46% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Franc, and 16% Petit Verdot, with alcohol of ideal food-friendliness at 13.7%. Even though there will be many years of luminous maturity awaiting us in the 2016 vintage, now is far from too soon to accept its gift — before it is fully sold.

Since my most recent Note, we have added Alabama, Colorado, Missouri, Kansas, and Tennessee to our roster of States where we ship. Our wonderfully discounted shipping rates for purchases of 12 or more bottles, still apply — no charge, as far as the Mississippi, and only half charge further on. Thank you for celebrating with us.