Life is Beautiful...Bubbles for everyday joy
Ciao friends,
It’s January! A new year and a time to renew our outlook on life. Whether you make resolutions or take time to plan your goals for the coming year, January is a great time for optimism and joy. Personally, I always book a weekend away for a little relaxation, think about the year ahead and a chance to come down from the frenzy of the holidays. It doesn’t take much—a quiet hotel with a hot tub and a bottle of bubbles to sip on.
Sometimes that's all it takes - a little joy and a little sparkle - a simple reminder that we are here to enjoy this life, and not sweat the small stuff. Our friend Pier Sfriso would be the first to agree. After all, he named his flagship wine Bella Vita--Beautiful Life. That seems to sum up his outlook pretty succinctly.
Last year we spent a few hours in his company, though you don’t need that long to see this is a man that gets it! He knows that you don’t have to make things complicated to make them enjoyable - just jump right in with both feet!
Throughout a three-hour visit, we hardly saw Pier sit in his seat for more than 2 minutes at a time. Besides his non-stop stream of consciousness, storytelling, and philosophizing, he is a blur of hands, arms, and legs, rushing from one end of his small garage winery to the other; Switching up the music on the stereo, taking care of an order being collected, then a light bulb goes off and he rushes to grab some other bottle from the fridge or morsel of food to pair with it. And he’s loving every second of it.
As you can imagine, Pier is one of our favorite guys- he's irreverent, doesn't understand very well how iPhones work, and is building off of something his father created (He probably would love seeing what it looks like today.) Pier knows in his bones that the purpose of life is living, and living well. So when the Prosecco Consorzio even hinted that his wines might not conform to their standards (sadly this means uniformly forgettable wines) he had no issues walking away from DOC and ditching the name Prosecco from his label.
Who cares? he thought. My wines are too good to conform to bland tastes! And he's right! His range of wines is unique, delicious, and a perfect expression of his personality and what he can do with a small plot of land and a head of steam. Pier has no problem rowing against the current here and is happy to tout his "unpopular" choices because it's hard to argue with something that brings a smile to your face every time.
Bella Vita Spumante Extra Dry
Pier's NOT Prosecco is simply wonderful—an intensely foamy, lively, refreshing sparkling wine without a hint of the spun sugar and gummy bear aroma that plagues so many others. His recipe is still the same (100% Glera), and it's full of white flowers, stone fruit, and joy for life! Extra-dry for a crisp finish. It’s not called Prosecco anymore--who cares what it's called-- this is just the spark of joy to start the new year!
Rosé Brut Spumante
Pier takes that same energy and puts on some rose-colored glasses. Made with the unique native variety Verduzzo Trevigiano and 10% Cabernet Franc for color and added fruit, this rosé is another delightful expression of Pier's lust for life!