My love of Wine Spectator's Unfiltered column continues unabated. This week they had a piece on Vino Erectus, the unique project of young vinter Franco Ariano. Ariano's bold plan is to train grapes to grow upside down (tip facing up) ten ferment the grapes in an antique 400-liter glass pharmaceutical amphora, bottle the wine and then bury the bottles in the ground for a year. The resulting Sangiovese blend, made from grapes on Ariano's two-acre vineyard in Saludeccio, Italy, will sell for around $2,700 a bottle. Ariano says that growing the grapes in this way leads to earlier ripening and better ventilated bunches.
