contact us

Use the form on the right to contact us.

You can edit the text in this area, and change where the contact form on the right submits to, by entering edit mode using the modes on the bottom right.​

5218 Lawton Avenue
Oakland, CA 94114

510-654-9159

Oliver McCrum Wines has been importing small production Italian wine and distributing to fine retail and restaurant establishes throughout California since 1994. Over time, our portfolio of producers has steadily grown to over 45 producers from 15 different regions of Italy. We look for typical Italian wines with clarity and freshness, usually made from indigenous Italian grape varieties using clean, transparent winemaking techniques and no obvious use of oak. 

Ottaviano Lambruschi

About Ottaviano Lambruschi:

Fabio Lambruschi makes the best Vermentino I’ve had. His wines are bone dry, very mineral, very distinctive, almost Riesling-like, and very different from most examples of the variety. Fabio’s father Ottaviano started the estate in the 1970s, buying a vineyard near Castelnuovo Magra, Liguria, after years of working in the famous marble quarries in nearby Massa Carrara, just over the border in Tuscany.  The vineyards overlook the ocean, at about 200 meters (650 feet) above sea level, surrounded by wild herbs; the soil is reddish clay; but none of this explains how good and how distinctive these wines are. They are the obvious reference point for the type.

We love Vermentino, a grape that gives fresh and aromatic wines that taste like lemon and herbs, and that go very well with food. The variety is grown in several places in Italy, particularly Sardinia and Liguria. Lambruschi’s Vermentinos are very elegant, and they are bone dry, which is often not the case. I will be drinking these wines with seafood, of course, but they would also be excellent as an aperitif, with a few olives, or paired with the famous Ligurian pesto pasta. 

The Wines:

Ottaviano Lambruschi Vermentino Colli di Luni

Estate-bottled, 100% Vermentino grapes from their younger vines; grown in rocky, reddish clay soil; restrained yield of fruit per acre of vineyard; fermented using selected yeasts and bottled relatively early in the following year.

Pale straw color; ‘wiry’ intense aroma of wild herbs and wet stones; on the palate a clear grapefruit-rind note, fresh acidity and a very long finish. Obvious pairing would be with seafood dishes, but a great dry aperitif too. Drink within 2-3 years.

 Ottaviano Lambruschi Vermentino Colli di Luni ‘Costa Marina’

Estate-bottled, 100% Vermentino grapes from the Costa Marina vineyard; grown in rocky, reddish clay soil; restrained yield of fruit per acre of vineyard; fermented using selected yeasts and bottled relatively early in the following year. 

Pale straw color; striking intensity of aroma and flavor; notes of wild herbs and lemon-peel; endless finish, very fresh acidity. Pair with your best seafood, or with roast chicken. Drink within 2-3 years.

Vermentino Colli di Luni Superiore ‘Il Maggiore’

‘Il Maggiore’ is the name of the locality where the vineyard, Lambruschi’s best, is to be found. It is the closest plot of land to the marble quarries at Massa Carrara, which the winery feels gives the wine a particular mineral tang.

Estate-bottled, 100% Vermentino grapes from the Il Maggiore vineyard; grown in rocky, reddish clay soil; restrained yield of fruit per acre of vineyard; fermented using selected yeasts and bottled relatively early in the following year. 

Pale straw color; aroma and flavor of lemon zest, wild herbs, and flowers, almost a hint of grapefruit on the finish; bone dry Vermentino with an abundance of varietal flavor and amazing structure to boot. You could try aging it but I am going to be drinking it young for best aromatic intensity. One of our best white wines, the only problem is that we don’t get enough of it.