2023 La Miraja Grignolino D'Asti 750 ml

The biggest revelation on our trip to Piemonte back in 2016 wasn’t a bottle of Barolo or Barbaresco—it was La Miraja’s beautiful red from the rare Grignolino grape.

We’d been tasting at cellar doors from Monforte to Trieso, meeting producers who blew our minds with Nebbiolo from casks of recent vintages and from bottles dusty with age. So when we settled in at Barolo friend’s wine bar, we planned on continuing that theme.

But the kind bartender insisted on a glass “to prepare the palate,” in his words. And after he poured us La Miraja’s delicate, operatically aromatic Grignolino, it was the only thing we wanted to drink.

Grignolino is beloved by Piemontese locals for its thirst-quenching, charming personality. Most winemakers, however, find it maddeningly hard to vinify.

La Miraja is known within the region as a specialist in this variety, and they’ve learned over the years how to thread the needle of extracting flavor from the thin skins without the harsh tannins that the variety’s extra seeds can sometimes bring. They’re the best at what they do, but because the estate is absolutely microscopic—less than four hectares under vine—their bottles are exceptionally tough to come by.

The 2023 vintage was a warm one across northern Italy, and that played right into the hands of the team, allowing the grapes to ripen a bit more than usual and softening the grape’s wiry tannins into silk. Over the next few months, I’ll be pouring this alongside grilled salmon and smoked chicken, or perhaps a spread of baba ganoush, tabouleh, and deeply bronzed halloumi. Or maybe just by itself, before a nice meal, like the first time we tried it.