2024FletcherWines‘CantinadellaStazione’Favorita,Piedmont,Italy

<p>The langhe Favorita D.O.C. comes from a single one-hectare estate vineyard in Alba planted with 60-year-old vines. Once widely grown but now increasingly rare in the Langhe, Favorita (a close cousin of Vermentino) shows remarkable potential when farmed for low yields and complexity. Fletcher harvests in two passes: an early pick for nerve and acidity, and a later pick for depth and fruit richness, keeping annual production to about 2,000 bottles. Grapes are whole-bunch pressed, the juice settled naturally without enzymes or sulfur dioxide, then racked to neutral French barriques for a slow native-yeast fermentation. The wine remains on its fermentation lees for eight months without bâtonnage and is bottled without fining or filtration, and with no malolactic conversion, preserving striking freshness. In the glass it is elegant and textured, with notes of white peach and nectarine carried by a saline, mouthwatering mineral finish that captures the cool, sandy soils of its Alba hillside. </p>