A weekend in Rome!

The fourth edition of VINI SELVAGGI: THE INDEPENDENT NATURAL WINE FAIR is back! This independent fair, dedicated to producers of natural, artisanal and low-intervention wines, will take place on Sunday 12th and Monday 13th of March, 2023 at Spazio Novecento, in the heart of the Eur district in Rome from 12:00 to 22:00.

The event, which is aimed at both professionals and amateurs, will host 100 artisanal producers of spontaneously fermented wines, ciders and beers. The winemakers presenting come from Italy, France, Spain, Slovenia, Germany and Poland.

On the terrace of the Spazio Novecento, you will also be able to taste the specialties of the partner farms and restaurants, including: Trapizzino, Azienda Agricola Janas, Ritmo, Capriss. At the helm of this fair is Lorenzo Macinanti and Giulia Arimattei, owners of Solovino Enoteca Naturale and Soif distribution, and Francesco Testa, a Spanish wine expert and winemaker in Galicia.

Their objective is simple: “To spread the culture of natural wine and encourage contacts between producers, retailers and consumers who choose an ethical and responsible approach to agriculture”. The program? It actually starts on Friday, with Ritmi Selvaggi, an evening that mixes music and bubbles at the Rashomon Club, from 8 pm to midnight. On Saturday, you can enjoy multiple “unofficial events” in the city’s wine bars and restaurants, before moving on to the fair itself.

The Raisin team will also be there, so please come by our stall and say hello. We always love meeting, talking, exchanging, and sharing a glass with you!

Have you tried Roditis Barrique? Have you tried Greek natural wine? If you haven’t Ktima Ligas is a great place to begin and the Roditis Barrique will really convince you that you’ve been missing something.

It’s colour is a golden light yellow, that reminds you of a sunrise. On the nose you are hit with fresh mangos, vanilla, herbs, and a light scent of honey. It is already an exciting wine, even before tasting. But once it hits your palate you are rewarded with flavours of agrumes, pomegranate, blood orange, straw and yellow flowers that mix with a creamy mouth feel. It’s very well balanced, with long but not over powering acidity. It’s like a lemonade on a hot day, that keeps you wanting more.

Made with 28 year old Roditis vines, the grapes are destemmed, and then given skin contact for 7 days. The fermentation begins in inox, the juice is run off using gravity and placed in 400 litre Stockinger barrels, which have been lightly toasted. The wine stays on the lees for 6 months then is transferred again into inox for one to two months. If you’re interested in the technical aspects of wine, you’ll be able to feel the well rounded expression of the wine that is bought out by the barrels. If you aren’t interested, all we’ll say is that Ktima Ligas know what they are doing!

Ktima Ligas was started in the late 80’s by Thomas LIGAS after returning from studying in France. He always believed in the potential of the local greek varietals and the natural approach into winemaking and winegrowing. It’s a family business, and these days Meli Ligas is working with her father Thomas running the winery with the help of Giannis, Petros, Alex and Valandis. They currently have 9 hectares but are expanding to 15 with new vines that they are planting.

Meli explains that they have a fantastic climate and great resources in their lands that don’t need any extra treatments or intensive labor, so they can concentrate on quality and purity rather than mass production winemaking.

The Roditis Barrique is a wine that sings. If you only get the chance to try one Greek wine in your life, make sure it’s this one. Although, why stop at one? We’re sure you’ll be convinced that it’s time to start a journey of discovery into Greek wines!

Country: Greece
Region: Pella
Grapes: Roditis
Vintage: 2020
Music pairing: DMX – Up in Here

“Brutale – La Natura è Progresso” is returning for its second edition on Sunday, March 5th from 10:30 am to 8 pm in Cesena. This fair and market is dedicated to natural wines, and attendees can taste and purchase bottles from around 85 winemakers based all over Italy, as well as some from Slovenia.

The event will be hosted by the Verdi Theatre and will feature tastings, food, and workshops. Fabio Venturi and Giuseppe Gargano organize the event with the aim of creating a meeting place for wine enthusiasts and professionals. In addition to the winegrowers, distributors of natural wines, an amphora producer, and an olive oil producer will also be present. Attendees can also sample the culinary delights of four restaurants from different Italian regions.

Throughout the day, workshops on artisanal wine and food will be held in some of the city’s venues as well. These events will have limited availability, so we recommend booking in advance.

The Raisin team will also be present, so please come by our stall and say hello. We always love meeting, talking, exchanging, and sharing a glass with you!

In July 2022 Sabi opened it’s doors for the first time in Carouge, Switzerland (just next to Geneva).

Antoine Nouais, is the chef and co-founder. His philosophy is that he wants to feed his customers in the same way he would want to feed his own family. When buying at home, he would only want to buy seasonal produce that he knew the origin of, be it vegetables, wine, chocolate, or coffee. Antoine feels that his customers should be treated in the same way, with transparency and respect. Only the best produce is served.

The restaurant takes a lot of inspiration from South East Asian, Japanese, and South Korean cuisine. At Sabi they love dishes that have ‘pep’, a strong personality, acidity, freshness, and spice! The menu changes regularly, and Antoine is constantly researching and getting inspired by new techniques to use in his food.

Of course, Antoine isn’t alone; he has a great team of motivated and creative individuals. One of which is Louis Rafii, the sommelier at Sabi, who takes his time finding the best natural wines to pair with Antoine’s cuisine. Their wine list is more than impressive, with fan favorites and some hard-to-find gems.

If you haven’t had a chance yet, Sabi is definitely worth a visit; find it on Raisin now.

On the 18th and 19th of March in Köln, is the 7th edition of Germany’s biggest and first natural wine fair, Weinsalon Natürel!

The fair will showcase over 60 natural winemakers from all over Europe, and especially an exciting list of well known and new German winemakers. Every year Weinsalon also aims to highlight a country that isn’t well known for winemaking. This year it’s Bulgaria.

Founded in 2015, at a time where almost nobody in Germany knew about natural wine. Surk-ki Schrade, who founded the festival, wanted to change this and bring the movement to Germany and highlight the great german winemakers who were already working naturally.

Weinsalon Natürel allows both wine professionals and normal consumers to attend the fair. Surk-ki’s idea was that people would leave and begin asking wine shops and restaurants for natural wine, and like that, create a market for her drink of choice. And it worked!

In 2016-17 Weinsalon Natürel helped winemakers like Bianka and Daniel Schmitt, Brand Bros, Marto and Andi Mann open the door to the international wine world. Opening doors and making connections between like minded people is the goal of this fair.

Raisin has been invited to be in attendance and we’ll have a special table and some free giveaways for you. We can’t wait to spend time tasting the delicious wines and meeting people, so please stop by and say hello to us, or even better, share a glass.

FIND THE WINEMAKER LIST HERE

📸 Daniel Schreitmüller

Luca Ferrero might have been destined to be a winemaker. He inherited his passion for viticulture and wine from his grandfather, Giorgio Ferrero, one of the very first winemakers in Italy to obtain organic certification for his family farm in Pino d’Asti (Turin) in 1986.

When Giorgio took over the winery, he choose to bottle his wines under the name Ca’ del Prete (Priest’s house) inspired by the fact that his farmstead, was once connected to the church where his family has been producing wines for four generations. He uses mainly Freisa, the typical red grape of this hilly area, although within his 4 hectares of vineyards, he also has some plots of Barbera and an ancient variety of Malvasia.

The soil on the farm is characterised by it’s fossils, limestone, sand, silt and clay which are old souvenirs from the distant past, when it used to be a seabed. The microclimate found here is also mild in winter and windy in summer, which is perfect for both Freisa vines and olives trees.

In 2014, Luca began implementing new methods both in the vineyard and in the cellar. Inspired by his previous experiences and the exchanges with colleagues he decided to keep a constant presence of wild herbs, aromatic plants, and flowers, as well as worms, birds, and insects that all live symbiotically in the vineyard ecosystem helping create biodiversity.

Luca has also, sadly, been forced to adapt to climate change and droughts, which have made him completely change his timings in the vineyard each year. Pruning, harvesting and soil work have all changed over the years. It continues to be a challenge that he expects will becoming more demanding in the future.

His wines are produced with minimal use of technology, without any chemicals, and with only small additions of sulfur at bottling. His goal is to introduce more people to the grape variety Freisa. Luca describes his vines as a rebellious 16-year-old with creativity, and a desire to discover the world. They just needs places and people ready to taste. We highly recommend that you do!