I’ll give it to you straight – I’m in love with Movia’s wines.  I love the radical thinking, the creativity, and the fact that winemaker Ales Kristancic is creating some of the most bizarre and beautiful wines on the planet out of sheer love for those wines, without so much as a nod in the direction of traditional rules of vinification.  Here Pinot Noir can be blended with Cabernet and Merlot; and why not?  Ribolla Gialla can be made into breathtakingly odd, golden, even cider-like wines without the least bit of intervention from human hands after harvest, and can have the potential to age for decades.  Puro, Movia’s spakler, can sit on it’s lees until it’s ready to be consumed, at which time the purchaser may embark upon a 5-part ‘Optional Opening Procedure’ that, when followed, includes manually disgorging under water.  I love the spirit of experimentation and whimsy that you can taste in the finish product.

 But what I’m loving most these days is their newest offering, Quattro Mani, which retails for $11.99 at Astor Wines.  

Quattro Mani (‘four hands’) is the brainchild of Italian wine importer Paolo Domeneghetti.  For this particular project, Paolo asked four well-known winemakers from different parts of Italy each to create a wine based around an indigenous grape that is at once affordable and reflective of the terroir of the specific region from which it came.  Movia produced a wine of true personality from the Tocai grape, full of fresh, summery notes of basil, spearmint, and fennel, coupled with an unexpectedly rich texture and boatloads of minerality.  

The first time I tried the Quattro Mani Tocai it was without food after a long day at work, which did this little weirdo no justice at all.  The herbaceousness was too overwhelming, the texture too heavy.  A straightforward, crisp and refreshing white it is not.  Movia’s Tocai is a wine that truly shines with food, as I realized last night, when I tried it with Brad Farmerie’s brilliant steamed snapper with prawn dumplings, bok choy, and kaffir lime-heavy sesame broth at Double Crown.  The floral nature of the kaffir lime managed to both compliment and lessen the intensity of the herbal notes in the wine, allowing the richness of the fruit to come forward.  Revolutionary thinking meets practical pairing, at its best.