I usually have a picture of the winemaker or the wine in these E-Mails. Today, it is the terroir. Because these wines today are made in some of the most challenging, spectacular terroir in the world. Much truly great wine is made because the grapes struggle to survive. And Valtellina is a brutal environment for grapes. As you can see, it is rocky, steep and cold from the mountains. But that is what we like at Fass Selections. Italy is southern and generally hot and Italian wines can be too ripe but the brutal terroir of Valtellina makes for wines with the acidic balance, aromatics and secondary flavors that we crave.
I've always loved the wines of Valtellina for their balance and their value, because many wine drinkers have never heard of them or just know of the flagship brand, Ar.pe.pe.
The first wine is the Conte Sertoli Salis 2007 Corte Della Meridi Valtellina Superiore DOCG for $32.99 each on a 4 pack purchase. This wine has the fruit concentration and soak found in the top AOCs in our Rhone portfolio but is also balanced and aromatic. It needs about 30 minutes to integrate and calm down but there is a beautiful nose of strawberry and spice. The elegance defies the magnitude of the palate presence. The palate has blackberry fruit with just an insane level of mouth coating richness. It really fills up the palate with fruit soak and sheer opulence. I mean this is just stunningly delicious. But the crazy thing is that this wine is so well balanced. There is a hint of spice that floats over floral notes as the wine aerates on the palate. There is a long, rich finish.
It's one of those wines that you can't believe how good it is and at this price, it's particularly insane. A wine of this quality from the better parts of the Rhone would cost twice this price.
This wine is 100% nebbiolo and the grapes come from the Sassella and Grumello subzones. Some of the grapes are dried using the traditional Rinforzo practice to give added body to the wine. The wine is aged for 3 years in 450 liter oak barrels. The wood is perfectly integrated after 9 years.
The second wine is the Conte Sertoli Salis 2012 Inferno for $24.99 each on a 4 pack purchase. Man I love this wine, largely because it's so unlike most of the wines I've had in Italy. The brutally miserable and meagre terroir of Valtellina really allows the essence of nebbiolo to shine through in this wine. The nose has the classic nebbiolo notes of tea, dried flowers and brick. Just really, really pretty. The palate needs 30 minutes to open up but it's just gorgeous, gorgeous light fruited nebbiolo. There is that light cherry fruit but the haunting floral aromatics almost overwhelm them as they swirl about. The palate presence is just so balanced and this is such a well made wine. The texture is just perfect. It just exists on the palate, almost without being there. It reminds me most of a Volnay that I had on my first buying trip as an importer. Don't get me wrong, I love the nebbiolo-based wines of the Langhe but with the higher temperatures we are seeing, the fruit makes it hard to appreciate the nebbiolo aromatics in many of the wines. The controlled fruits in this wine create a perfectly integrated and harmonious base to enjoy the spectacular violet and spice aromas.
This wine is more for Burgundy lovers than the previous wine. As I noted, it is a wine geek wine but I think that everyone who likes nebbiolo should try it because it really shows one end of the range that nebbiolo can achieve. This is really a Lyle Fass wine geek wine if we have one in the portfolio.
This wine is grown in Inferno (which means hell). There is a very interesting microclimate because the vineyard is so steep is is almost perpendicular to the sun. It is incredibly rocky and the rocks get very hot in the summer (hence the name). The wine is aged for 2 years in large oak casks. The wine is 95% nebbiolo blended with 5% Merlot and a local grape called Brugnola.
2007 Conte Sertoli Salis Corte Della Meridi Valtellina Superiore DOCG - $34.99 ($131.96 4-Pack) (LIMITED)
2012 Conte Sertoli Salis Inferno - $26.99 ($99.96 4-pack) (LIMITED)
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