CHAPEAUX

Chapeaux is the Nesci estate's organic Merlot — a wine that takes its name from the French salutation of admiration, and that earns it through the particular quality of the grapes from which it is made. Where Frà Antonio is the estate's more immediate and approachable Merlot expression, Chapeaux is the version that comes from grapes grown exclusively on the organic hills of Palizzi, with the specific character that that commitment to organic viticulture and the particular exposure of those plots impart.

The Palizzi hills face the Ionian Sea — a constant and generous breeze that gives all the Nesci estate's grapes their characteristic aromatic intensity and mineral freshness. The biodynamic and organic farming philosophy of the estate — extended across bergamot plantation, olive grove, and vineyard in an integrated agricultural ecosystem of genuine complexity — ensures that the soil's natural life is preserved and expressed in the wine. Chapeaux carries that agricultural integrity in its glass.

The colour is a garnet red of great vivacity — deeper and richer than the Frà Antonio, reflecting both the more selective approach to the fruit and the slightly different character of the specific plots from which it originates. It presents on the nose with the fine, harmonious aromatic profile of a wine that has been treated with patience: not forced into expression but allowed to reveal itself at its own pace.

Chapeaux is aligned to the cooler meals of autumn and winter — the season of the fireplace, the long-cooked preparation, the aged cheese brought out with intention. At this temperature and in this company, the wine's garnet vitality and its fine, harmonious character are most fully expressed.

The name carries a characteristic Nesci lightness — a touch of Gallic hat-tipping from a deeply Calabrian estate — that reflects the family's understanding of their wines as sources of pleasure as much as of substance. Available through UniqueWines.