Scarpa Brachetto d'Acqui Secco | 2022

You probably know “Brachetto d’Acqui” as the sweet sparkler that tastes like raspberry soda and befriended every restaurant’s molten chocolate cake in the 1990s. But there are a handful of dry versions too, local to the Acqui Terme region, where they’re served as an aperitivo. Scarpa is an insider’s icon, making wine in the Monferrato hills since the 1850s. In the 1960s, under Mario Pesce’s leadership, they helped rewrite Barbera’s reputation, proving it could be serious and refined (versus its white wine-like quaffable versions). Since then, Scarpa has stayed gloriously Piedmontese, making a treasure chest of local grapes—Freisa, Pelaverga, and this Brachetto.12 days on skins with daily pump-overs, then aged in steel, it squeezes out every drip of this pretty grape with cardamom, a bowl of berries, and snow-white rose. Grab what you can, because this one will go poof! ~Allegra Angelo