“Esprit Fou”, Vino Bianco Frizzante Col Fondo

Ermes’s son Nathan came on board full-time at the family winery several years ago, and he is indulging in a bit of thoughtful experimentation in the cellar, finding new registers of expression for the indigenous Prié Blanc variety. Take, for instance, “Esprit Fou”—a pétillant-naturel (or, in Italian, “col fondo”—both French and Italian are spoken in this border zone) for which Nathan bottles still-fermenting Prié and allows the natural yeasts to finish digesting the remaining sugars, thereby turning them into bubbles. The result, dry but creamy, bursts with Alpine herbs, and its exuberant mousse is still undergirded by a savory stoniness that echoes through all the family’s wines.