Koi
About
You’d be forgiven for thinking that that the Veneto is the source of all sparkling wine in Italy, being home to über-famous Prosecco. But really, the bubbly tradition starts here in the Po Valley, with grape varieties native to these plains and hills, having been raised here so long that they walked out of the forests and straight into the vineyard. These varieties’ wild acid signatures have never been bred into oblivion, softened into things as pretty or rich as, say, Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s in a special pocket here, on the road exactly halfway between Modena and Bologna, that you’ll find a little valley called Samoggia, dotted with crags, woods, and meadows, famous for three things: truffles, wheat, and you guessed it: the vine.
Here in Valsamoggia, you’ll also find ferocious competitions for who makes the best tortellini, that being the flagship pasta of Bologna, but you’ll also find white and red grape varieties that have long been destined for rifermentato, the old-school way of producing sparkling wine that echoes the Champagne method, but without as many of the fancy tools or interventions. Here, artisanal winemakers re-ferment their base still wines into sparkling wines by using a small amount of frozen musts from the previous harvests, and it’s to this practice, as well as the local white grape varieties in particular, that winemaker Flavio Restani of KOI has devoted himself.
Pignoletto, Montuni, Pagadebit, Trebbiano Modenese: special old varieties from around these Bolognese hills that the old folks have always worked with, in particular rendering white sparkling, with a mix of natural high acidity (Trebbiano Modenese) and very charming nutty, citrusy, marzipan-like notes (Pignoletto, Montuni). And then there’s the Lambrusco family varieties that have always thrived here, too: Salamino, Sorbara, Grasparossa, and maybe a touch of Marani—of which Restani produces two himself, landing in two different cuvées.
Restani’s farming and winemaking are decisively committed to the principles of natural wine, but Flavio is very much a Romagnolo, not at all a laissez-faire, “whatever comes out of ferment is good” type. Rather, he’s straightforward and smart—he laughs robustly and easily and is almost always wearing the exact same technical sort of vineyard pants with zippers at the knee. The winery and label, Koi, were founded in 2018; his roughly 4.5ha of vineyards come from his parents’ and grandparents’ old parcels. Restani says that his whole ambition in founding a winery was to do something that “recovers what is old, does something really sustainable, and gives me a strong connection to our land.” There’s nothing more wild or strange about it than that. Perhaps the funniest part about Koi is how he chose the label: taking inspiration from Japanese culture, he says the koi is a symbol of perseverance and non-conformity, which, around these parts, you’d definitely have to be in order to make such powerfully pure and transparent frizzante wines. (Big, blocky reds are still a thing around here, as is rather conventional and insipid Trebbiano.)
That’s what the Koi wines are: sparkling, yes, but raised entirely on the lees, or col fondo, so you get the complexity and depth largely associated with things like great Champagne or Penedès sparkling here, but with a leaner, lighter character, and more gentle pressure of bubble due to the refermentation method. We notice most about Flavio’s wines that they absolutely quench thirst: fresh and breezy right out of the glass, with striking aromas, and a sense of luminescence and lift. They are ten times better than your average Prosecco and so much more interesting. And they’re clearly destined for a table in a region that prides itself on its other food inventions, too: pasatelli in brodo, cappelletti, mortadella, it goes on.
Don’t miss the wine that made us most enanormed of Flavio’s work right away and probably the reason we pursued importing him: the Illusione, the spumante conjured from 100% Trebbiano of the specific Modenese type, soaring with acidity, foamy like the sea, with tiny white flowers, yuzu zest, and crystalline herbs throughout the palate.
Products
Emilia Bianco Frizzante 'Chi Mera'
Certified Organic. 50% Pignoletto, 50% Montuni. Sourced from a 60+ year-old vineyard, on largely clayey soils, with the two varieties interplanted--a white field blend. Grapes are hand-harvested and then entirely whole-cluster pressed. About 5% of the must is collected and kept frozen to employ for refermentation later on; in spring that must is added as a liqueur de tirage and bottled to become frizzante. (In other words, the wine undergoes full secondary fermentation.) Unfined, unfiltered, undisgorged. No SO2 added. ‘Chi Mera’ is winemaker Flavio Restani’s most easy-going, lower-pressure sparkling wine, with nice hazy texture coming from the Montuni and herbal, marzipan-like notes derived from Pignoletto. It’s a beauty of a light sparkler that conveys the gentle minerality of the region and freshness of the Koi style.
Emilia Lambrusco Frizzante 'Lambroosklyn'
Certified Organic, Practicing Biodynamic. 100% Lambrusco Grasparossa. Taken from a single 1ha vineyard of 60 year-old vines. The vines are trellised in an old Bolognese fashion called 'Bellussi,' where grapes are harvested from 6.5 feet high. Grapes are hand-harvested and destemmed. Three days of skin contact fermentation with indigenous yeast, no temperature control. After the three days, the wine is racked. In spring, fresh juice is added (5%) and the wine is bottled to become frizzante; secondary fermentation takes place in bottle. Undisgorged. Unfined, unfiltered, zero SO2. Perhaps the more rustic and ruddy of winemaker Flavio Restani’s wines; his focus is on the more traditional white sparklings of the area, but we like the picnic-friendly, dark-toned, slightly tannic iteration of his Grasparossa, too.
Emilia Rosato Spumante 'Visio'
Certified Organic. 50% Trebbiano Modenese, 50% Lambrusco di Sorbara. Sourced from a single 1ha vineyard of 60 year-old vines with the two varieties interplanted; winemaker Flavio Restani says, ‘Because Sorbara is a lower-yielding grape, normally it's planted between other varieties. I have this old vineyard where the Sorbara is 50/50, co-planted with Trebbiano Modenese, so I love to pick them together. They are very similar grapes: low tannins, extremely high acidity.’ The trellising in this old vineyard is done in an old-fashioned system from the region called ‘Bellussi,’ something like a pergola, where grapes are harvested at nearly 6.5 feet overhead: the training technique is ideal for dealing with the humidity of the region, as well as maximizing ripeness of fruit. Grapes are harvested together, both white and red, then direct-pressed whole-cluster. About 10% of the must is collected and kept frozen. The other 90% is fermented with indigenous yeasts. In spring the juice is added back in, and the wine is bottled to become Spumante. Unfined, unfiltered, zero SO2. Magical wine.
Emilia Bianco 'Orsu'
Certified Organic, Practicing Biodynamic. 50% Trebbiano di Spagna, 50% Moscato. The varieties are harvested from two different small parcels of vineyards totaling .3ha, with 40-60 year-old vines on medium-weight, clay-dominant soils. The Trebbiano di Spagna is hand-harvested and directly pressed, then added to the Moscato skins. Fermentation takes place with indigenous yeast in stainless steel. After 6 months of skin contact, the wine is bottled. Unfined, unfiltered, zero SO2. Winemaker Flavio Restani remarks that the idea is always to make the very best wines he can given his grape varieties in the village of Valsamoggia; since Moscato ripens quite late in the Colli Bolognese, he says it's impossible to make sparkling wine with it. As a result, for 'Orsù,' Restani combines the Moscato with Trebbiano di Spagna, also an aromatic variety, to make a textural, elegant still white wine.
Emilia Rosso 'Nami'
100% Barbera. Taken from a single vineyard site in the Monteveglio area, the steepest one that winemaker Flavio Restani works. 40 year-old vines, northern exposure, clay-dominant soils. The Barbera is collected and crushed, then sees two weeks of maceration; after that the fruit is pressed off. Élevage in concrete tanks throughout the winter, then bottling in spring. After eight mos of bottle age, the wine is released. Unfined, unfiltered, zero SO2 added. Only 600 bottles produced for the inaugural 2021 vintage of this wine.
Emilia Bianco Spumante 'Illusione'
Certified Organic. 100% Trebbiano Modenese. This is Koi vignaiolo Flavio Restani's most “Bologna-specific” sparkling white wine: this particular variety of Trebbiano, called Modenese, does not exist except for among the hills in this appellation. A complex sparkling wine: florals, minerals, citrus zest, with medium foamy bubble and a finish vibrant with acidity. Not bubbly like industrial-method sparkling wines, however; this belongs to the true 'sui lieviti' style, with the elegance and depth that one might expect from more well-known sparkling wine regions. Secondary refermentation is accomplished in the bottle with the addition of about 5% of harvest's fresh musts, saved until spring when they are added to the wine at bottling to create bubble. Unfined, unfiltered, undisgorged, zero SO2 added.
