Primaterra (Walter de Battè) Tonos Rosso | 2017

Idiosyncratic to-the-bone, the wines of Walter de Battè are not for everyone. Bottled with low sulfur and no filtration, they're off-the-chart aromatically, and the red wines ooze with foolish wild fruits. The Tonos comes from a single vineyard in the Val di Magra which occupies the southeast tip of the province of La Spezia, where mountainous Liguria gives way to a flat coastal strip of Tuscany. An unusual blend of Sangiovese, Ciliegiolo, Canaiolo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Dolcetto, and Moscato Nero, Walter pumps over the must three times a day during fermentation, then racks the wine into large French oak casks where he stirs the fine lees. Rested in steel before bottling, red and blue fruits coat the palate, lifted by mountain herbs and a mouthful of sweet-and-sour acidity. Big, yet light, savage, yet tame, Tonos is the anything but cookie-cutter and will thrill those searching for something beyond the ordinary. ~Allegra A