The Negretti brothers carry with them an air of quiet confidence and  ease that is both assuring and affable. Both trained as wine technicians, one in enology and the other in Business, the brothers embarked on making their own wines in 2002 by taking their parents' grape-growing business a step forward into the artisan of wine-making.  

The sandy soil of La Morra is commonly known to give the most graceful expression of Barolo, but we always suspect the wines reveal more about the fine taste and adventurous artistry of their makers. 

Currently there are three single-vineyard Barolos and one blended - they are different and it is a challenge to decide which is the best. Consistent to their vision of bringing out the individual charateristics of each grape varietal, Negretti also makes single-varietal wines from Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.  

Negretti is one of the five talented wineries of Langa Style. They are simply cool to be with, and we love all the visits we have made to their vineyards.

Check out which of Negretti's wines we are carrying.

Take a look at Negretti's company profile.

Negretti's official homepage

Langa Style's official homepage

"A great wine is not made in the cellar, but in the vineyard."

Valentina Cubi does not aim at richly extracted wine,  which is very often seem in Amarone, but for freshness, elegance and a reflection the vineyards that give rise to the wines.

It was 1969 when the Cubi family team took over the estate lcoated in the hills surrounding hte Fumane valley, north of the Province of Verona. Since then Valentina and Giancarlo painstakingly expanded their vineyards to the current 13 hectares. From the launch of the first bottle in 2003, the estate has continued its research work. With a strong belief in respect for nature the Cubi graduallyconvert the traditional vineyard to organic and by 2011 all of the vineyards are organic. 

Meeting and tasting wines with Valentina is a pleasure. The soft-spoken lady carries with her an elegance that resonance with the wines she makes, and there is a cheerfulness to life that we can feel, well, that could have been influenced by having tasted the wines. 

Check out which of Cubi's wines we are carrying.

Valentina Cubi's official homepage

To us Marina is the face of the Punset estate and therefore the serious attention to organic culture and quality are her fingerprints. Apart from running her family’s vineyard and winery in Neive, Piedmont, she also oversees marketing and sales at Vintesa, a consortium of organic wineries spanning across different regions in Italy.  A perfect local guide, she gives great advice where and when to go for truffle hunting, where to find restaurants that serve great affordable dishes made with locally grown or reared ingredients and with a lot of character!!

One can easily see traces of Marina's personality in her wines. The cheerful and approachable Ne? (bianco) and Neh! (rosso) are clever blends to cater for the younger adults that want upfront and pleasant wines . The Dolcetto “Campo Re” are unmistakably deep and punchy for a typical dolcetto. The Nebbiolo is rich and serious, a glimpse of the two Barbaresco that Punset produces.

Check out which of Punset's Wines we are carrying.

Punset's official homepage

Vintesa's official homepage

The first time we met Guiliano was on a sunny and hot day in July, when he picked us up from the Treiso village as we (Google map to be exact) failed to find the correct route to his winery. His big smile and cheerful demeanour was infectious, so much so that we were convinced that working in the steep vineyard of moscato vines under a brazing sun was the most satisfying job in the world. My small research in medical papers later concluded that the secret to joyful vineyard work was in the endorphin generated from cardiovascular exercise…...

The moscato d’Asti that is hugely popular certainly picks up the cheer factor, so do the youthful Jovine (blended white), the fruity dolcetto and the more studious Magistri (Nebbiolo). 

Visiting Guiliano again last Autumn at the time of harvest and fermentation showed another part of the fitness regime -  the grape must after fermentation has to be taken out of the vat by hand. The big smile and satisfaction once again appeared on our wine-maker' face. 

Mustela is one of the five Langa Style winemakers -  five ambitious young men born in the same year and sharing a devotion to making great wines in Langhe (English for Langa).

You can find a booklet about Mustela Estate here.

Check out which Mustela's wines we are carrying.

Mustela's official homepage

Langa Style's official homepage

Loacker is well known, unless one never snacks, dislikes chocolate biscuits, or has been on never-ending diet. Having been in the confessionary business for over 20 years Rainer Loacker decided to move away from one vice to another (!) and took over the Schwarzhof vineyard in Bolzano and introduced organic farming and wine-making. 

Since then the business has grown, and Hayo Loacker, the second generation, has taken over as the head of the three Loacker estates in Italy: Bolzano, Montalcino and Maremma. Hayo gained his wine education at the Burgundy University and worked in the wine profession in South Africa and California, before finally returning to the family’s business.   

The dedication and care to nurturing the land and the vines are almost touching to city dwellers like us. The range of wines from Loacker's three wineries spanning from Alto Adige to Tuscany Marenma are vast, and all with the mind to allow the grapes to grow in harmony with the mother nature. The touch of precision is noticeable in the crispness of the white, and the restraint shown in the Montalcino. 

Loacker has a wide range of wines from the three markedly different regions in Italy, and from a new vineyard in the region of Styria, Austria. The Styria vineyard is another new fascinating venture and we have selected two of them, to bring some foreigners to our portfolio. 

Check out which of Loacker's wines we are carrying.

Loacker's official homepage

Vintesa's official homepage

It was many years ago at Cesani’s that we first discovered Vernaccia di San Gimignano, the first grape that attained DOC status and the beloved local white grape of the province of Siena. Traveling in Tuscany we stayed at Cesani’s Agriturismo (farmhouse bed & breakfast) and were intrigued by this quaint and elegant estate in the hill of Pancole that “makes wine in addition to running a B&B”. Of course it is in fact the other way round, the Cesani family has been running their vineyard-farm-winery since 1950. 

More than 10 years ago Cesani converted their vineyards to organic. “The conversion indeed took many years. But then we reckoned that a field that cannot sustain vines organically is probably not suitable for growing grapes in the first place!"

So well known is the Cesani estate in the community of San Gimignano appellation that we feel there is little need to repeat. For us, every visit to the winery and if we book early, to stay at the B&B, has been a lovely experience. It could have been the sunny demeanour, the warm Tuscan hospitality, the food or the bewitching wines. 

Check out which of Cesani's wines we are carrying.

Cesani's official homepage

Through a chanced introduction we met Marta, the younger daughter of the Magnabosco family that runs the grower-vinery-farmhouse in Soave. She arrived to meet over dinner with a big smile and cheerful spirit, having only landed at Hong Kong less than 5 hours ago. Over dinner we tried Monte Tondo’s Soave Classico, the Soave Superiore "Foscarin Slavinus”, and the Amarone. They are simply delightful without over-bearing.

In April this year we visited Monte Tondo estate in Soave to see for ourselves the steep vineyard of Monte Foscarino (the Foscarino hill) that Martha's father transformed from a neglected vineyard into the beautiful terraced vineyard lined with olive trees now. The cellar and Bed & Breakfast mansion with its sunburst yellow exterior stands out for anyone approaching from the highway. From a 3-hectare vineyard more than 40 years ago to the beautiful estate of 40 hectares today this is a fascinating story of relentless hard work and good fortune of the Magnabosco family. 

We feel the magic in the air as we tried out MonteTondo's range of wines, from the Sparkling Brut, the easy going Soave Classico and the refined Single parcel Slavinus Foscarin. Some of the magic now sit inside the two wines we have included in our portfolio.  

Check out which of Monte Tondo's wines we are carrying.

Monte Tondo's official homepage

One of the five Langa Style wineries, and one of the two that produce Barolo, Olivero Mario is a family team of father, mother and son. Lorenzo, after completed his training in the Scoula Enologica of Alba, decided to expand the family's grape-growing business to wine-making. With his tall frame, big smile and a candid nature, Lorenzo makes a Barolo that is generous and big-hearted. Ask him about wine-making he will happily go into an eloquent explanation of how he finds each vintage and each of the seven wines that the estate makes. 

While Barolo tends to grab attention, Lorenzo also makes 6 other wines from local grapes including two unforgettable Barbera d’Alba - the single vineyard “Campii Raudii” is unusually complex while its multiple vineyard sibling is more direct and very likeable. This autumn look out for the arrival of Campii Raudii, produced in tiny quantity of 3000 bottles a year so always sold out fast.

Check out which of Olivero's wines we are carrying.

Take a look at Olivero Mario's latest brochure.

Olivero Mario's official homepage

Langa Style's official homepage

Like most other winemakers in the Langa Style group, Enzo has a vision to transform his family’s traditional business of grape-growing to making wines that uphold the good reputation of the Barbaresco region, and express his vision of elegant wines. 

We always think wines are styled knowingly or unknowingly with the fingerprints of their winemakers. The wines of Enzo are the product of his caring and warming patience - to people, the vines, and every step of the wine making process. Enzo speaks in a soft voice, at time a wink or a shrug, and a pace that assures that all is cool. In our various visits he has recounted how his Passito di Moscato came into being, the rather unexpected foray into the Scandinavian market, the very efficient meetings with the New York customers, and even a truck accident in the vineyard that could have been fatal. The attention to details and patience are imprinted into his wines, be it the elegant Barbaresco that is the star of La Ganghija, the little fighter Nebbiolo, the more mellow and youthful Dolcetto, and the delicately flavourful Passito. 

Check out which of La Ganghija's wines we are carrying.

La Ganghija's official homepage

Langa Style's official homepage

Why did Giorgio choose the laborious life of splitting his time between his home in Milan and working in the vineyard in San Gimignano for over 10 years? Probably some kind of dreamer-fighter complex is at play. 

Giorgio loves his family, his vineyard and his wines. To our question about going organic his answer is a matter of fact - the wines have to be good enough for my lovely family, and Giorgio is a perfectionist.

Visiting il Palagione vineyard in one winter we marvelled at the serene house that at less busy times of the year will provide bed & breakfast to visitors. Giorgio proudly took from his cave an older vintage Hydra, a supposedly entry level Vernaccia di San Gimignano with moulds on the bottles. Viola! Merely 5 years more senior that the current vintage the wine has become golden with a hint of sirupy texture, and a smoothness that is like clarified, ripe apricot juice. We have decided to save a few bottles of our stock to keep……

And then the next spring we tried the Rosato - we were stunned again by the smoothness and richness that one does not expect from Rose wines. 

Sometimes it is more difficult to make stunning simple wines than more elaborate complex wines. Try and decide yourself. 

Check out which of Il Palagione's wines we are carrying.

Il Palagione's official homepage

Vintesa's official homepage

One of the striking attributes of the Bera estate is how closely each one in the family works together, even when the estate is already sizeable in the region. In all of our visits we would run into everyone in the family - Alida Bera always welcomed us with her engaging smile and once dazzled us with her great cooking. Valter Bera, the head of the family, on his way from or to the vineyard/winery would always stopped by to say "ciao". Riccardo, the younger of Valter and Alida's two sons, has been our contact since the beginning and is simply fabulous. Then from time to time, Umberto, the elder brother, would appeared as he was about to enquire something.  

It is indeed true that we always ended up staying longer than we had planned :)

Bera is a well known name in the region having established early in the years as one of the top makers of Moscato d’Asti. The Estate was featured in Luigi Veronelli’s “Historic Italian Wine growers”. 

As a family run grower-winemaker, Bera has a wide range of wines so every wine-tasting visit was felt to be too short. There are some that have not yet made it to the brochure in its website. Arneis, Dolcetto, two Barbaras, etc etc. The nebbiolo grapes from the various vineyards are being made into delightful Langhe Nebbiolo and a few Barbaresco. Last Autumn we tasted the Barbaresco from Bera’s Rabajà vineyard acquired a few years ago - it is a beautiful wine with structure and refinement.

Check out which of Bera's wines we are carrying.

Bera's official homepage

Puglia is less often the choice of travellers from Hong Kong. We were glad we finally made our way in 2015 and was much delighted to find place is breathtakingly beautiful. The seaside is mesmerising and, it is here that we find the answer to the difficulty of pairing red wine and seafood. 

Twice Luigi has proved to us wines from Puglia do not follow our food-wine pairing tradition by his choice of restaurants, and accordingly his extremely good taste. The family-run organic farm & winery produces as much wine as delicious produces like olives, tomato and grain. The wines from Enotria has a direct and outright freshness that carries a wisp of the sea and the warmth of the Mediterranean climate. The Massaria, as farmhouse is called in Puglia, focuses on local grapes from the area: the white grapes Fiano, Falanghina, and the red grapes Nero di Troia, Negroamaro, Montepulciano, Primitivo and Aglianico. The red wines that go with fish? Try out the blend of Nero di Troia and montepulciano.

Check out which of Antica Enotria's wines we are carrying.

Antica Enotria's official homepage

Vintesa's official homepage

Our partnership with Orsolani started in a way fairly familiar to wine lovers of the world - we first bought a bottle from a shop in Milan while travelling, much impressed by the quality. The next year, we bought another bottle while in Milan, and liked it so much that we thought we should find out about bringing the wines to Hong Kong. 

We finally visited Gianluigi at his winery in April 2018 on a rather cool, rainy day and an hour late as we took a wrong turn to anther village - the perils of not having any GPS or google map. Gian welcomed us without fuss to his winery that his family has been running for four generations. 

Erbaluce is a prized grape in Northern Piedmont and the Orsolani family has been instrumental in promoting the wines made from this grape. The winery is a member of the Gran Cru Committee of Italy. Speak to Gian and you can feel his pride for the uniqueness of the soil formed from glacial moraine and the floral and age-worthy Erbaluce grapes that thrive in it. 

Orsolani makes a range of predominantly white wines from sparkling wines made in the Champagne method (or “metodo classico” as it is called), dry white and the very lovely passito (sweet wine). 

Find out which of Orsolani’s wines we have.

Orsolani’s official webpage

The Abrigo Giovanni Estate is the latest addition to our portfolio of wines. We have thought we would not add any more winery, then in one of our exploratory visits to wine fairs we met Sergio, the younger son of the family responsible for overseas market. We tasted the Favorita (a.k.a. Vermentino) and two of the Dolcetto Diano d’Alba. This was followed by a visit to the family run grower-winery last Autumn - and here we are carrying two of the estate’s wines.  

Browsing Abrigo’s website gives one a warmth, homely and cheerful feeling. They are a family of smiles reflecting their pride of their wines and the hazelnuts that grow side by side the vineyards. We are carrying only a small number of their wines at the moment, and hope you like them too.

Check out which of Abrigo Giovanni's wines we are carrying.

Abrigo Giovanni's officlal homepage

Leaving her philiosophy post in a university in Germany more than twenty years ago, Renate embarked on an adverture to take up a run-down vineyard in Asti, Piedmont and converted it into an organic vineyard and winery that cares for the land and the bio-diversity that inhabits it. 

When you meet Renate today, you can still feel the passion that fuelled her courageous move to leave her home country and come to Piedmont in 1994. Her love for the 8-hectare of beautiful land is infectious and one can almost smell the harmony in the air. Now joined by her daughter in the winery, this German-speaking mother-and-daughter team makes wines from indigenous grapes, which, of course include Barbera d'Asti, the more mellow of the Barbera.

Check out which of La Luna del Rospo's wines we are carrying.

Vintesa's official homepage

More about Azienda La Luna del Rospo

The vineyards of Fortuna are located in Grosseto, the coastal province of Tuscany. We first met Paolo, the head winemaker, in 2014 at Vinitaly when we were still contemplating setting up Story Wine. It followed with a visit to the Estate in Tuscany two months later....

Tenuta Fertuna is from the lineage of a world renown Super tuscan estate and the largest of the wineries in our portfolio with 40 hectares of vineyard and 10 hectares for olive. We became very fond of the “white” Sangiovese ‘Droppello’ the first time we tasted it, for its finesse and ingenuity, and also stunned by the richly fragrant olive oil that is never in sufficient quantity. (!) A few years on when we visited again the estate has further expanded its range by adding a charming Vermintino and a Rosé, revised its Messiio to a full Merlot, Lodai to a full Cabernet, restyled all the wine labels, and built a stylish mansion for events and tasting. This is an estate that is evolving and developing like a young adult.

Check out which of Fertuna's wines we are carrying.

Fertuna's official homepage

La “Favola” is fairy tale in Italian. This is how Corrado and his wife Valeria describe their initially small project on 15 hectares of vineyard and olive groves in Noto, Sicily that has now become an organic farm-winery-B&B producing vibrant sicilian wines that are now exported to Switzerland, Asia and America. When we visited in the summer of 2015, they were at the beginning phase of an art-social culture project “Bridge art”. Such is the endless energy of this fairy tale. 

Corrado is trained in Agricultural science and Valeria, a writer. The organic vineyard embraces the careful research into organic farming that allows the land to express its energy and abundance. 

“We do not want to make the best wine in the world, but a wine that contains inside this little piece of Sicily.”

Check out which of La Favola's wines we are carrying.

La Favola's official homepage

Vintesa's official homepage

Eisacktaler Kellerei (German), or Cantina Isarco (Italian) is different from all other wineries in our portfolio on two aspects: it is officially and culturally bilingual, and it is a cooperative. Both characteristics are related to its being in Alto Adige, a wine region within Trentino-Alto Adige region, which used to be part of Austria before the World War I. Alto Adige is the northern-most wine region in Italy and well known for the dominance and high quality of Cooperative wineries. 

Eisacktaler’s wines, reflective of its region, have the distinctive crispness and freshness borne of Alpine climate and the volcanic soil in the area. They are so beautifully different from the rest of the wines in our portfolio that it feels a shame to have left out this piece of the mosaic of Italian wines.

We came across Eisacktaler in one of our winery trips in 2016. The sleek and aromatic white wines are so memorable that the following year we went back to the cellar to explore. We have not yet visited the 130 vineyards from its growers, and it would be quite a hiking trip as the vineyards in Alto Adige are known for being steep.

See the wines from Eisacktaler in our portfolio.

Official website of the Winery.