Old Boy Wine Négociant
– San Bonifacio, Italy
Old Boy Wine Négociant is not your typical winery. It’s a project of Alberto and Valeria Preto, two brothers who traded boardrooms for barrel rooms.
Inspired by the Korean film Oldboy, a dark, gut wrenching horror masterpiece, the Old Boy Wine website claims to embody that same spirit – their wines are expressions of defiance, art, and authenticity (in their own words). Funny. At NWFA we thought these wines are the perfect “glou glou” wines. Low on alcohol, easy to drink, intelligent and complex enough to be entertaining with the right food pairing and not pretentious. Great for lunch also and very quaffable so to say.
Alberto and Valeria grew up surrounded by vineyards, However, their direct journey into winemaking didn’t begin until a fateful encounter with Andrea Pendin of Tenuta l’Armonia.
Alberto and Valeria source their grapes from vintners who work bio-dynamically. No commercial yeasts, no shortcuts. In the cellar, they decide on all interventions, and each wine follows a unique method for its second fermentation in the bottle.
Their first two “creatures” are Hey Boy! and Hey Girl!. Hey Boy! is an ancestral bubbly that channels the volcanic soils of Calvarina with Durella grapes from 40-year-old vines. With its acidity and minerality, this wine doesn’t just sparkle; it bites back. Alberto and Valeria see it as a perfect pairing with an entrée of “puntarelle salad.”
On the flip side, Hey Girl! is a flirtatious blend of directly pressed Pinot Noir and Chardonnay macerated for a week, giving it its pink hue. Fermentation takes place in oak barrels, followed by a second fermentation in the bottle using Chardonnay must, resulting in a wine that’s bright, seductive, and full of life, without playing by the usual rules.
Their third, Hey You!, is Old Boy’s bold take on Chardonnay. This wine spends a month macerating on the skins in amphora, drawing out intense flavors, rich textures, and a golden hue. It’s then re-fermented in the bottle with a pied de cuve from the following harvest, adding layers of complexity, lively bubbles, and a wild edge.
And their latest, Hey Bolz!, is a bold sparkling wine that combines two native Veneto varieties, Bianchetta and Pavana, in a way no one has before. Crafted from historic vineyards, with some vines as old as 90 years, this wine undergoes spontaneous fermentation twice. The second fermentation happens in the bottle with must from the same harvest, added in December. The Bianchetta is directly pressed, while the Pavana enjoys a night of maceration, showcasing the character of the region’s calcareous soils.
Cultivation: –
Production: 8.000 bottles/year.
Varieties: Durella, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pavana, Bianchetta and Gamay
Approach: Biodynamic, natural
Certifications: –
Sulfites: None or minimal if strictly necessary
