Gianni Doglia Ruche di Castagnole Monferrato

The Gianni Doglia estate in Monferrato got its start in 1947 when grandfather of Gianni and sharecropper Genio saved up enough funds to purchase a piece of land. Gianni studied enology and was raised in the family’s winery, joining the operation in 2000. Whether you call it minimal-intervention vinification or an old-fashioned insistence on food-friendly wine, Doglia conveys each of its diverse varietals with an immediacy and directness that seems to collapse the distance between the berry and the bottle. Ruchè is a black-skinned grape that was essentially saved from extinction by a parish priest who worked out how to make dry wine from it in the 1960s. Gianni leans into its wild florality and blackberry tang to produce a full-bodied red that shimmers with sprightly energy.