Ciao Luca!

Source note: This post is adapted from Parched's June 11, 2026 newsletter

Ciao,

As promised, an email chock full of absolute bargains. Can't always be allocations, right?

Anyway, we've done the thing again and brought in a new grower straight from source. Cutting out the middleman means we can offer some serious value. Wines that could be priced higher but aren't, because we want people to drink better. Everyone wins this way. You get good wine at very good prices, we support a talented new grower, we sell more wine. That’s the plan anyway?

Our first Foray into Sicily with the wonderful wines of Luca Bambara! He is a young Québécois, with wine in the blood, with his dad running a healthy import operation out of Canada. However, since 2022 Luca has been sourcing top organic fruit from his ancestral Sicily. Everything is hand-picked, fermented naturally, and vinified hands-off, with sulphites used sparingly if at all for most cuvées. These are clean but expressive wines that speak of the sun-kissed, salty island, made for a modern palate and priced so they can be poured with vigour. What’s not to like?

Bambara da Casa is his nod to the local tradition of Vino da Casa, house wines designed for max enjoyment, unfussed on the table. The Orange is a gentle maceration of Catarratto in cement. Showing the grape at its aromatic best, it's at once gently tropical with a dash of florals, plenty of island herb and a signature backbone of salt. The Rosso is Nero lightened and brightened with 30% Catarratto. Beautiful and brambly, again herbal and refreshing. Just 1g of So2 at bottling, sitting under a score. Miracles do exist. I’d recommend buying by the case.

Isola dei Lupi is the first of a more premium line from Luca. Thankfully, whilst the quality is primo, the price is firmly affordable at just shy of £25 quid. Nero in a more vertical iteration with a short 4-day maceration. This is all rhubarb and wild berries, with refined and classy tannins. Il Classico is the most robust of the range. Picked later with a longer maceration, but heavy this is not. There is still a lightness of touch, a calling card of Luca. With a coastal vineyard site, the maritime influence is clear, all briny and saline, black and blue fruit. One for the ragu.

TLDR: These wines are very good and priced keenly. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

I bring you more bargains to refresh our shelves, despite having no space in the warehouse. Seriously, my job is like full-time Tetris atm. Aren’t I kind.

Staying in Italy, Sassi Rossa is a beautifully labelled Sangiovese. Midweight and full of that savoury, almost balsamic charm that makes the grape so alluring. Begging for pasta or a solo spin. Likewise, for the long overdue return of Nebbio. A bright and breezy take on the grape that doesn’t cost the earth. Young vine energy, pretty florals and wispy tannin.

Further afield, we have a dynamic duo from Chile. A Provençal-inspired rosé that is pale, pretty and priced very, very generously in today’s mad world. The orange is also a bargain. All citrus and soothing, without any real tannin or grip, just refreshing and fun.

Ben Walgate has brought us one of the most keenly priced English wines you'll find. A quintessentially British white, with an aromatic, elderflower-leaning profile. Slightly more expensive (still sub £30) but a real steal considering the biodynamic farming and quality on show. Albariño grown in Wales. LOL. Don't ask why or how, just know it's tasty, orange and wild. 9% ABV makes it a real joy for long afternoons. Their Pét-Nat is also refining by the vintage and has never looked so good. Rhubarb pink, rhubarb flavour. Sticking to the English theme Tim Wildman M.W. returns to the shelves with his Lost in a Field Pet-Nat. Priced extra nice in this new vintage.

OK, that's me done! Hope you find a wallet-friendly wine in there.

Speak soon,
Fionn
xoxo