Ermes Pavese Uno Percento 2017 in Original Wood Box

Nature dealt the high Alpine hamlets of Morgex and La Salle a fatal blow in 2017, with frost destroying all but 1% of the Pavese family’s crop. From their pittance of grapes, they produced a single vessel of a single wine, naming it “Uno Percento.” Ermes made this singular Prié Blanc the way his grandfather would have: natural fermentation in a small cement tank with nine months of skin maceration and a bottling without fining or filtration, and a mere 15 milligrams per liter of sulfur dioxide added. He made all of 999 bottles, and designed a special bottle in line with their beautifully quirky aesthetic–a cylindrical 750ml bottle with a slanted top, and a patchwork-quilt-looking front label. Each bottle comes individually packaged in wood, with a handwritten letter (in Italian) explaining the exceptional vintage and the philosophy behind the lone wine they coaxed from it. As for the final product, it shows a deep, layered, powerfully stony side of the little-seen Prié Blanc grape, bearing the concentration of a naturally severely reduced crop, and with enough structure to lay down.