The Anfosso family has always grown vines in Soldano, Liguria, so it was only a matter of time before Lorenzo Anfosso, the 7th generation and youngest member of the family, carried on the same tradition; in 2016 the winery E Prie was founded. Its name ‘The Stones’ (in dialect) refers not only to the vineyard’s countless dry-stone walls, but also to the fact that, just like their walls, the family has carried on their heritage with great pride. Known for its tourist-laden beaches, kaleidoscopic pastel towns of the Cinque Terre, or the straight-out-of-a-Loro-Piana-commercial bay of Portofino, there’s a lot more to Italy’s second-smallest wine region than first meets the eye. Particularly when it comes to the briny, herbaceous red wine of the area – Rossese – or what they call Tibouren across the border in Provence. Twenty miles before you reach the French border, you wind up into the hills to find the Medieval village of Dolceacqua. Surrounded by craggy cliffs, whose impossibly steep terraces were built by the Romans, the Rossese di Dolceacqua vineyards here have clung to the rocks for over 25 centuries. What today feels like lost in another era, this magical place used to have over 3,000 hectares planted with vines before phylloxera and has roughly only 90 hectares remaining today. Few wine producers are willing to sacrifice themselves on these steep hills, but Lorenzo took over his family’s pre-phylloxera Rossese vines and started making his own wines at age eighteen. 250 to 300 meters above sea level, Lorenzo farms just barely one hectare of vines, on jagged marl and schist terraces between two of the best Cru sites of Dolceacqua, Ai Pini and Fulavin.
Known as Tibouren across the border in France, this Rossese is light bodied, delicate, and enjoyable under a warm setting sun (or curled up by a fire.) The vineyards in Dolceacqua were constructed by the Romans on impossibly steep cliffs and are bathed by the Mediterranean warmth, and are tended by the very young Lorenzo. From 30-year-old vines pulled from both vineyards, fermentation takes place in steel tanks with indigenous yeasts and a majority of whole clusters. Brightly, seductively perfumed, with sun-kissed red fruits matched by a lifted, savory note that calls to mind the garrigue of these hills and the spray of the oceans below; briny, herbaceous, and a touch of bacon fat on the nose makes this wine from the Italian Riviera stand out. On the lighter side of medium-bodied, olives and cherries mingle with black pepper and warming spice on the palate. Its tannins are soft, its acidity fresh and lifted — a silky, juicy charmer through and through, ready to drink now and even better at the cooler end of cellar temperature.