ARPEPE
Grumello Riserva Sant’Antonio 2016
Lombardy, Italy
This parcel of old vines sits right at the top of the mountain in Grumello just beneath the church of Sant Antonio, where the family’s parents were married. The grapes were macerated on the skins for two months and spent over three years in large chestnut casks. From a near-perfect vintage, this is a remarkably complex, detailed and nuanced expression of Nebbiolo that still has many years of life ahead.
Nebbiolo
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
The Perego family has been growing grapes on the granite terraces of Valtellina since 1860.
They work only with Nebbiolo, or Chiavennasca as it is called in these parts, growing the grapes up to seven hundred metres above sea level on sheer, south-facing, sunlit vines that dig straight into rock. The vines are so far north into the alps they are practically in Switzerland and the resulting fruit is intensely mineral.
Production is very much of the old-school and labour is intense, the hills making it very difficult to reach the fruit at all. Everything across their thirteen hectares of vines is done by hand and in the cantina the family exercises a soft touch with famous patience. Favouring long, gentle macerations, the wines are left to rest in large, old chestnut casks until they are deemed ready for release.
The transparency of the grape, the singular landscape and the Peregos’ gentle hand in the cantina make for wines that are up there with Italy’s greats.