Andrea Moser, a professional oenologist, is a volcano of ideas and he talks about “temporay wines”. Those who know him know that his mind is constantly bubbling with concepts, much like a fermenting vat. It is no surprise, that he has been included in Fortune’s list of the 40 under 40 who are spearheading the renaissance of wine in Italy. After gaining extensive experience with Franz Haas and Erste+Neue, the historic winery of Alto Adige-Südtirol based in Caldaro, he is about to launch an ambitious new project called AMProject, which combines oenology and communication.
Let’s hear directly from Andrea about what it’s all about:
“AMProject is my new venture, which I will be working on together with my brother Luca, who is also an oenologist. Today, I am a consultant for various wineries, but for some time now, I have had in mind something that would break the traditional and conventional process of winemaking. We will work from time to time in places we choose or that have chosen us by election, to produce unique wines each year, completely unconventional but deeply rooted in their territories. The winemaking will take place in Alto Adige, but not exclusively, with the best equipment for the goal we have set. These will be wines without a safety net, wines from the heart: they will change every year and tell stories of places, territories, people, grape varieties, and ideas.”
Temporary Wines
If the production idea is clear, equally clear is the communication idea, which for the oenologist has always been an integral part of the work. Communication has often brought him closer to the journalistic sector. In fact he now lends his consultancy, thanks to the agreement with the daily newspaper Linkiesta Gastronomika, for which he also writes a monthly newsletter on the world of wine.
The new wines produced solo will therefore be “temporary wines”, just like chefs’ temporary restaurants. Often, the region, the grape variety, and even the vinification will change: the wines will be unique, almost unrepeatable, in limited edition and available only in pre-order. They will be shipped only in the cold months to best preserve their characteristics. Some wines will evolve annually from the previous vintage, using the same selected vineyards, to ensure continuity in the oenologist’s research and work
A project that is very much wine, but also includes a lot of planning, design, and indeed communication, aimed at a target of enthusiasts and – in part – reserved for a series of restaurants that, in addition to being able to order them for their wine list, will have them paired with signature menus and dishes, thanks to direct agreements between the oenologist and the chefs who, like him, have a strong contemporary vision.
The real surprise is that you won’t have to wait too long beause the first temporary wine will be available for pre-order as early as October. From the vineyards of Anghiari, in Tuscany, Andrea Moser did his first harvest last September 2022, and the vinification of the first grapes. The bottles will be available in a limited number: in fact, there will be only 726 0.75-liter bottles, with an artist’s label created by Serena Barbieri, numbered, signed, and in an exclusive series.
Andrea Moser con Antonio Boco
His first vintage: 2022
The first temporary wine comes from Tuscany, from 80-year-old vines in a vineyard that was abandoned for about 40 years. The Moser brothers have reclaimed it and rescued it from the forest after extensive work, aimed at giving new life to a territory that we believe has great potential.
We are in Anghiari, in the province of Arezzo, at about 450 meters above sea level, on virtually unexplored red clay soils. It’s a typical Tuscan pedological situation, but with white grapes produced in a rather high area, cooler than usual. Precisely because of climate change, this area has become ideal for viticulture. Until a few decades ago, it was too cold to yield good viticultural results. Now it is perfect, with the harvest brought forward by about three weeks from mid or late October. Moreover, the particular ventilation of the slopes descending from Anghiari towards the Tiber Valley allows for minimal interventions against vine diseases.
These bottles are part of an exclusive series created by artist Serena Barbieri, numbered, signed, and in a limited edition.
Varieties
The grapes are:
- Trebbiano
- Vermentino
- Malvasia Bianca
- Canaiolo Bianco
- 5% of other yet-to-be-identified varieties
…the beauty of working on such an ancient vineyard is also this.
Vinification
The vinification, given the small quantity produced, took place in a 2-hectoliter Clayver, with a pre-fermentation maceration of the grapes, destemmed and crushed, lasting about 5 days. The must was then transferred for fermentation back into the Clayver and into two caratelli. One caratello is new and the other one used, from Carmignani, a historic producer of traditional Tuscan barrels for Vin Santo, spanning four generations.
A very long aging on the lees was carried out with only two transfers. The first one after maceration and another on July 22, 2023, when the wine was blended before bottling, which took place on July 25. Very few interventions were made on the wine.
They want it to respect the territory and be an authentic expression of this vineyard, which has been recovered and saved from the forest. There was careful management, and the interventions in the winery were dictated only by necessity, avoiding any non-essential practices.
In the vineyard, the approach has always been the same: respect. Beyond any possible certification, they rely on common sense and the idea of disturbing the grapes and the plant as little as possible and leaving the land in better condition than we found it. Thanks to the particular pedoclimatic conditions in the 2022 vintage, only two treatments were carried out in total—copper and sulfur—and the management of the under-row involved only green manures and mowing.
The production for the 2022 vintage is 726 bottles of 0.75 liters.
Andrea Moser – picture taken from site www.andreamoserwinemaker.com
The artist label
The design of the labels, based on the core values of the Moser brothers—namely: pleasure, respect for the grape and the land, human skill, intelligence, and future vision—has been entrusted to Serena Barbieri.
Born in La Spezia and having lived among the hills just a stone’s throw from Florence, Serena Barbieri has been living and working in Porto, Portugal, since 2015. She creates paintings, drawings, collages, and ceramics that reflect on architecture and space. Materiality, geometry, and color are her main tools. The forms she uses are basic geometric shapes, those that belong to everyone, with the aim of creating series of systems where these elements are in harmony with each other, forming logical visual sequences. She has interpreted our foundational values for us, transforming them into simple shapes such as squares, circles, triangles, rectangles, straight and curved lines—basic elements that blend, pair, separate, recombine, and organize to give life to a meaningful construction that creates a new story and new visual systems every year, starting from the same solid foundations with endless possibilities. Just as happens with wine.
For more information, visit www.andreamoserwinemaker.com
Crediti ph: la foto di copertina è tratta dalla pagina facebook di Andrea Moser