Nadir Cunéaz, “Les Gosses” Rosso

It’s been a long time since my last visit to Italy’s Valle d’Aosta, so I seethed with jealousy when my SommSelect colleagues texted me photos from their recent trip there. But I was happy for them. This northwestern-most corner of Italy is a mash-up of (viti)cultural influences, and the wines wrung from its rock-strewn slopes reflect that—they’re a little bit Italian, a little bit French, a little bit Swiss, and, thanks to minuscule quantities, not easy to find outside their little home region. Nevertheless, we persist, with the ultimate case in point being the wines of Nadir Cunéaz. Offering a wine like “Les Gosses” is not so far removed from smuggling bottles back in suitcases, given that Nadir produces fewer than 100 cases of the wine. For Nadir’s importer, sending a small amount of this garage wine to the US is a passion project, not a viable commercial enterprise, and we’ve been among the first in line every time a new vintage of “Les Gosses” lands on our shores. The wine, crafte