Motalli Renato Has Been Working These Steep Hills His Entire Life
- He Doesn't Go to VinItaly or Market The Wines
- These Wines Are Absolute and Utter Masterpieces
- Aged in Old Chestnut - Totally Unique
- Please Read This Carefully - Our Only Renato Offer of the Year - You. Do. Not. Want. to. Miss. This.
- Some of the Most Insane Values We Offer
2013 Motalli Renato "Le Urscele" Valtellina Superiore Riserva
- You Cannot Drink This Alone - Someone Needs to Be There That You Can Tell How Great It is
- Stunning Aromatic Clarity - Tar, Fresh and Dried Roses, Spice, Licorice, Strawberries , Black Tea
- Perfect Ripe, Sappy Fruit with Wonderful Clarity
- Epic 2013 Nebbiolo Vintage
- One of the Best Price to Age and Quality Deals We've Ever Offered
- Monopole of Motalli Renato
2017 Motalli Renato Chiavennasca (Nebbiolo) Rosato
- I Hate Rose ... But This Is Incredible
- On My Top 10 Rose List
- First, Rose from Nebbiolo....How Cool Is That
- Second, It's Just Amazingly Delicious. Just Perfect Strawberries and So Juicy
- You Know You Are Going to Drink Rose At Some Point - This Is The One You'll Want
We just sold the wines of the legendary Arpepe. And everyone bought them. Arpepe is, after all, the name that you know if you've heard of Valtellina. And the wines are justifiably famous and we're proud to sell them. Although it seems like Arpepe has been around forever, it truth it's only been since 1984. Motalli Renato has been around since the 19th century.
How the Wines Compare to Arpepe
Arpepe is the leading name in Valtellina for a good reason. It's wines have the aromatic focus that you want from wines in Valtellina. But they also have the density that is more common in this day and age. They are not dense like Baroli but they are dense compared to old school Valtellina wines.
The wines at Motalli Renato are more classic and aromatically focused. They are incredibly old school in the best way. These are a benchmark in Valtellina for me. These are powerful, yet delicate, aromatically beguiling and unapologetically old school wines. They are all aged 100% in Chestnut wood which gives these such an engaging old school personality. These would be 3-4 times the prices if you slapped Barolo on the label. The 2013s of Motalli Renato are epic wines and this is one of the most important offers of the year. The winemakers I love often release the wines when they are ready. They are true artists. In a world that is increasingly driven by pure profit motives it is really special to see a winemaker release the wine when he's damn ready to do it will please his customers the most. We are lucky to have Motalli Renato. These are some of the most high quality, low priced wines in the portfolio.
The Wines
Up first is Motalli's Grand Cru per se, the 2013 Motalli Renato "Le Urscele" Valtellina Superiore Riserva for $34.99 a bottle on a 4-Pack. Le Urscele is like Grumello etc, except it is a monopole of Motalli. This is likely why it does not get much attention. And we are the first to work with him in the USA so it's not well known, but this 2013 can kick the pants off of any of the more expensive famous Valtellinas and most of the Langhe. This wine is insane and one of the most ageworthy/ready to drink deals we have ever offered. So first off, please do not think of this like a $34.99 wine - think of it more like a very, very well made $45-$70 (on release) Barbaresco. It's 100% Nebbiolo and aged in large chestnut casks. This is old, old school winemaking by a master who has done it for decades. The nose is just gorgeous and so refined. It is what every Nebbiolo head wants.
I had this recently and I had to call my partner and make him listen to me go on and on about how great it was. The wine literally blew me away. I had to get the tasting notes out of my system verbally or I was going to explode. I literally yelled tasting notes at him for 10 minutes. To heck with the fact that this wine costs $34.99. It's that good.
The nose. Classic Nebbiolo that is utterly distinctive and entrancing. Loads of spices with a hint of vivid strawberry. Mixture of fresh and dry roses. Some licorice and maybe even a suggestion of anise and black tea. There is stunning clarity to the aromas. They build and build as the Wine gets more air. After 45 minutes you're slack jawed smelling this wine. Gorgeous old school Nebbiolo aromas that are truly stunningly refined.
The palate is insanely delicious but also a great platform for the internal aromatics. There is terrific cherry fruit with uncanny clarity. Super juicy with the wonderful remnants and structure that come from of integrated chestnut wood. Why don't more people use old chestnut? It's awesome. Uncanny complexity and freshness. Ripe, sweet tannins and wonderful pop for lack of a better word. The fruit is red as it comes and is beautifully ripe, sappy and long. So juicy on the finish with unreal elegant and juicy tannins. Lovely, lovely internal aromatics with fantastic spice.
The finish is very, very long and really refined. This is world class wine at the price of a merely very good wine. Don't miss this wine. It's a work of art. What makes this special is the interplay between the vibrancy and depth. Bravo Mr. Renato. This is a wine you cannot miss. I will email every person who has ever bought a Burgundy, German Pinot or Nebbiolo to buy this wine.
If you can afford great Barbaresco and don't care that this is half the price, I get it but you should still buy this. It is just a different expression of Nebbiolo and the chestnut ageing makes for a totally unique wine so if you like Nebbiolo, you should get this. If $40-$70 is above your price point, then this is a way to enjoy the uniqueness and wonderfulness of aged Nebbiolo for a song.
I'm also offering the 2017 Motalli Renato Chiavennasca (Nebbiolo) Rosato for $26.99 each on a 4 pack purchase. So this is 100% Nebbiolo rose - so how cool is that? So I really almost never offer rose because roses mostly all have a particular flavor (from the skin contact) of which, frankly, I'm not a fan. This one does not have that. It is just so incredibly clean and well made. I'm offering this because, well, it's just simply really, really delicious. So good, I added it to my list of Top 10 Roses.
The nose is just a field of fresh strawberries with dried leaves, faint roses and citrus skin. Really precise nose. Has something to say. Just gorgeous. The palate is super precise and then just pure strawberry/first of season cherry flavors with awesome Fass Selections juiciness. Really makes your mouth water. Really nice juiciness on the finish. High acid and nice structure. Needs 30 minutes of air. Nice density, structure and concentration.
So I know that we generally sell very serious, complex wines at Fass Selections. But I'm big enough to admit that some days I open bottles of wines like this. To drink on the roof. As an aperitif with friends. Or because I've had a lousy day and don't want to mull over over the complexity of a wine. And you know what? People love wines like this and so do I. Not everything is a super serious wine of Tolstoyan complexity.
The famed Wilhelm Haag in his day had a reputation that he could crush the bones in your hands so powerful were they from working in the vineyards for decades. While I have a great fondness for him, I can confidently say that Motalli Renato would turn Haag's hands (or even Mike Tyson's) to dust if they went at it. Motalli Renato has been working this brutal winemaking region (Valtellina) for decades and these powerful hands are his badges of honor for his spectacular work over the years. The vines struggle for nutrients in the rocky, steep clay soil. These are truly some of the most individual and distinctive wines we sell. German Spätburgunder and Alt/Nebbiolo are the two most value laced categories at Fass Selections. And because Renato has focused on his craft as opposed to marketing, they are ridiculous deals.
2013 Mottalli Renato Valtellinna Superiore Riserva "Le Urscele" - $36.99 ($139.96 4-pack) (LIMITED)
2017 Motalli Renato Chiavennasca (Nebbiolo) Rosato -$28.99 ($107.96 4-pack) (LIMITED)
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