2020 Randi Burson 'Randi Selezione' Ravenna IGT

The 2020 Randi Burson “Randi Selezione” Ravenna IGT is a wine that looks like a void and tastes like a mouthful of ripe forest berries. It’s imbued with violets and all sorts of fresh forest notions: coniferous trees, wet stones, damp earth, pure wilderness. Dark, inky, and luscious, it makes me feel like a foraging bear, and I’m ravenous for more. With real energy and lift, it’s rich and full-bodied but invigorating at the same time. I’ve never tasted anything quite like it, which makes sense when you learn that it’s made from Uva Longanesi, a little-known indigenous variety from Emilia-Romagna. Approximately 70% of the fruit is dried for 60 days prior to fermentation, then it spends 24 months in French oak tonneaux. That appassimento step is everything here. It’s a labor of love that clearly comes across in the glass. This is the kind of wine I love discovering—a wine that takes me places, stirs my imagination, and makes me think about who I want to drink it with. It’s distinctive without being weird or difficult, full of flavor without losing its sense of place, and it over-delivers for the price. Hat tip to our Italian wine buyer Orazio Campoli. I’ve never bought as much Italian wine in my five years at K&L as I have since he took over the program.