I’m struggling to put into words just how exciting it is to share today’s offer. Most sommeliers and finger-on-the-pulse Italian wine fanatics have heard about natural wine sensation Fabio Gea. It’s another thing to have actually enjoyed some of his inimitable Piedmontese wines.
Gea’s cryptic, minimalist labels crop up on the shelves of elite restaurants and the occasional ecstatic Instagram feed, but acquiring these stupefyingly rare wines for home consumption, let alone deciphering the mind-blowing back story behind each micro-cuvée, is all but impossible...until today! We are thrilled to share one of Gea’s rarest wines, “Onde Gravitazionali,” a mind-expanding red blend crafted in the hills of Barbaresco. You won’t find a single bottle of this retailing online in the US or Europe, and I can’t wait to share what I consider one of most exciting, convention-destroying stories in contemporary wine. The only other thing I can say today is: Move quick! We have very little to share, and my gut tells me this will be the one and only opportunity SommSelect has to offer a Fabio Gea wine.
So, where to start with the increasingly legendary Fabio Gea? You may have heard that Gea insists on every aspect of his work being driven by equal parts artistry and hand craftsmanship. Yes, Gea practices some of the most painstaking organic/biodynamic farming in Piedmont. Depending on the specific cuvée, Gea vinifies his wines in glass demijohn or his own amphorae made of porcelain (he is also an experienced ceramicist); sometimes it’s fermenters cut from solid sandstone, or sometimes even in his own barrels, made from lumber cured with steam from the volcanic stone in Gea’s home sauna! His obsession with detail and creativity extends to even the smallest details: wine labels are hand-printed on handmade paper which is hand-applied to bottles with a paintbrush. These would be a remarkably challenging lengths to go to in any wine region, but the fact that Gea is located in the epicenter of Barbaresco only further boggles the mind.
Given that Gea lives and works in Barbaresco—i.e. some of the world’s most rarefied wine real estate—it’s necessary to mention that beneath the relentless experimentation and creativity here, there is a firm foundation of science and terroir. Gea holds a doctorate degree and is said to have earned a nice living while working as a geologist for large corporations in his years after university. I imagine some of that income came in handy when, a decade and a half ago, Gea renounced corporate life and retired to Barbaresco to rehabilitate his deceased grandfather’s long-fallow farmland and to revive the Gea family’s former winemaking glory. Still, while Gea has enjoyed a meteoric rise to contemporary wine celebrity, he is still working at an absurdly small scale. He farms a few small plots of Nebbiolo, Barbera, and Dolcetto, mostly located near, or around, Barbaresco’s “Bricco di Neive” vineyard. He only bottles around 400 cases of wine each vintage, depending on yields, and the total is divided between 7-8 individual cuvées. In my experience, the name, label, cépage, production volume, and style of each wine are subject to change each year. Needless to say, this is not a property obsessed with classicism or profit: it is more akin to the studio of a singular, immensely gifted artist. To take the metaphor one step further, I would encourage everyone to embrace Gea’s wines with the same spirit as one would experience the art of Picasso or Kandinsky. There is undeniable craft, talent and real magic in each of Gea’s wines, but they are in no way a buttoned up, play-by-the-rules, classic “Piedmont Reds.” These are abstract, progressive wines that will infatuate those who enjoy a taste of life’s wild side.
Today’s 2016 Fabio Gea “Onde Gravitazionali” (“gravitational waves”) is a dark swirl of Nebbiolo, Barbera and Dolcetto fruit, with black cherry, tart pomegranate, blue flowers, roasted meats and a hail of limestone and white pepper machine-gun fire. It’s a vibrant, explosive red that dramatically evolves and shape-shifts in your glass—every sip reveals a new, more enthralling and provocative wine. Due to vinification first in glass demijohn, followed by a long rest in Gea’s own handmade porcelain vessels, there is a sense of precision and delineation that keeps the wild orchestra of aromas and textures all together, and in tune. That said, this is not a bottle oppressed by excessive oak or cellar technology. On the contrary, Gea’s characteristically judicious use of sulfites and this cuvée’s barrel-free evolution make for a wine that is defined by its own purity and raw power. Please decant for 15-20 minutes before serving in large Burgundy stems at 55-60 degrees. Also, please take care to enjoy within 18 hours of pulling the cork. Gea’s wines erupt with lightning-in-a-bottle energy but they are fragile and intended to be experienced fresh and in the moment—not analyzed and dissected for days on end. Conveniently, I discovered last week that Onde Gravitazionali is a sublime companion to a bacon-wrapped rack of venison, so the bottle didn’t stand a chance to last overnight! The smoke from the bacon and deep, primal flavor of the venison is a uniquely perfect counterpoint to today’s stunning and rare red.
Buon Appetito!
