You find good wine even when you are not looking for it. We often have a harder time when we go off searching for great wine but, this time, Alessandra Bera found us.

Late in 2002, we received some exhuberant e-mails from a wine maker in Piemonte, Italy telling us we had to work with her wines. She had been given our address by her good friends in France, like Pierre Breton of Bourgueil, Marcel Richaud of Cairanne, Jean-Marie and Thierry Puzelat in Cheverny and Claude Maréchal in Burgundy. All these French vignerons, vignerons we proudly work with, told Alessandra that her style of natural farming and natural wine would be a perfect fit for Louis/Dressner Selections.

Alessandra had our attention. We learned that she would be joining the festivities surrounding Catherine & Pierre Breton’s legendary Dive Bouteille Tasting held every year the Saturday before the Loire Valley Wines Salon in Angers. We told Signora Bera that we would see her there.

Well, cut to a year later, and a our second vintage of Moscato d’Asti Canelli and Monferrato Dolcetto Bricco della Serra have just arrived, along with a new wine for us, Barbera d’Asti Ronco Malo. We couldn't be happier. In fact, we are so happy that will be spending the last week of January visiting similar vignerons throughout Italy to try to find more great producers like Bera.

The estate dates back to 1785 when the Beras’ ancestors originally purchased some of the land from the Knights of Malta. By this time, the cultivation of grapes -- and in this area particularly Moscato grapes -- was already well-established since the 13th century (and once again we are indebted to those reviled Crusaders for their faithful spreading of the word “Grape” to every corner of the known world they traveled!). By the end of the 18th century and into the 19th and 20th centuries, the fame of Moscato (read: Asti Spumante) spread worldwide -- and so did slipshod production methods. With few exceptions, the bulk standardization of this wine has been the norm ever since.

The Family Vittorio Bera is different. This was the first estate to bottle and market its own wine in the Canelli region. The estate lies in Sant’Antonio di Canelli within the region of Serra Masio, the most prestigious and ancient of the area’s Moscato production. The grapes are entirely Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains and are cultivated on steep, southeast slopes of calcerous marl soil of ancient oceanic origins. All of the estate is cultivated in organic viticulture with an emphasis on creating an active, healthy ecosystem. All grapes are harvested by hand and their juice is fermented without yeast inoculations. All the winemaking is done by Alessandra's brother, Gianluigi Bera

They also grow Dolcetto and Barbera grapes -- planted more recently, but cultivated using the same careful techniques as for the Moscato. With the reds there is no fining or filtration. And some precocious white grapes: Cortese, Favorita and Arneis which they blend to make a fantastic white wine called Arcese.