New Zealand native Tom Myers began gravitating towards wine after waiting tables straight out of high school. As he likes to say, it was a love affair built on “economic necessity”, having quickly learned that he would make more money as a sommelier than as a busboy. Tom was fascinated by the composition of flavors and soon had his sights set on traveling the world. He returned to New Zealand to study, but unfulfilled by academia he quickly decided to join the army. Years later, harvest came calling and Tom took a crack at working at some of Auckland’s most famous vineyards. He moved to Europe in 2012, landing first in Tuscany, then spending three straight vintages in Burgundy with some of its finest growers. In this time, he ventured to the Langhe for the first time and fatefully met Carlotta Rinaldi. Later on, he spent a lot of time working in the Rinaldi cellars where he gained valuable insight about Nebbiolo. By sheer luck, Tom was tipped off about a vineyard parcel of less than 1 hectare for rent in Preda containing Dolcetto and Nebbiolo. Tom’s interest in philosophy and burning curiosity very much defines his approach to making wine. D’Arcy’s first vintage was 2020.

Preda is one of the 37 MGA’s of Barolo, and can be thought of almost like a continuation of Bussia, lying just behind it at 230 m in altitude. As it is east facing, there are no large geological structures (i.e., mountains) throwing shade in the late afternoon. The soils are silt-driven and fine in texture with about 12.5% active limestone. They are neither clay-rich like Brunate nor sandy like Cannubi.

Tom’s current holdings in Preda total just under 1 hectare. He supplements with fruit from trusted growers.

Tom has full autonomy over the viticulture in his vineyards in Preda and tends to both Dolcetto and Nebbiolo using a simple, organic and respectful approach that promotes biodiversity and preserves as much as possible the intrinsic nature of the Langhe hills. The vines are grafted on site with buds from local vineyards.

Tom’s work in the cellar has direct influence from his experiences in Burgundy, particularly his training with D’Angerville and Ben Leroux. All fermentations are open top, favoring whole bunch fermentation whenever possibile (60% whole bunch was used in his first wines in 2020) though Tom is quick to say he is not opposed to de-stemming if it feels appropriate. In the future he’d like to play around with longer maceration (cappello sommerso) but for now he’s focused on “keeping things explosive” and filling the wines with perfume. The wines are aged in old Burgundy barrels or large oak (15 hl or 7.5 hl), with no racking. Tom is currently searching for a cellar to call his own and relies on friends’ facilities for now.