ARPEPE
Sassella Riserva Vigna Regina 1999
Lombardia, Italy
From the most rocky of their vineyards in the Sassella cru, the vines here dig right into the granite below, producing the most lean and delicate of all of their wines. This spent thirty days macerating in tini before four years of rest in old chestnut casks. Lithe, delicate and almost weightless on the palate, there is an incredible elegance and tightrope balance to the mature red fruits, stony minerality and refreshing herbs.
Nebbiolo
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
The Perego family has been tending vines on these sheer granite terraces in the mountainous Valtellina since 1860. The vines are so far north into the alps they are practically in Switzerland.
They work only with Nebbiolo, or Chiavennasca as it is called in these parts, growing the grapes up to 700 metres above sea level on sheer, south-facing, sunlit vines that dig straight into rock. 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 in the vineyard is done by hand and in the cantina the family exercises a soft touch with great patience, leaving the wines to rest until they are deemed ready for release.
The transparency of the grape, the singular landscape and the Peregos’ gentle hand in the cantina lend these wines a remarkable sense of place.