I want to talk about a wine that is born from an authentic love story. It all starts in Val di Non Mountains, in Trentino, that’s an enological region of North-East Italy. Soon the dream of Pietro Pancheri and his wife Silvia Tadiello (the LasteRosse owners) becomes reality: they have created a winery that respects territory, land and traditions. In practice, they have chosen to work sustainable agriculture, to preserve the native vines and to work following the rhythms of nature with a careful look to the moon. Silvia and Pietro make mountain viticulture, using manual operations in the vineyard. Their work to recover an ancient indigenous vine which risked disappearing: the Groppello di Revò, a white grape whose name comes from “grop” (in Trentino dialect means knot), due the shape of its bunch. That was an autochthonous vine cultivated for centuries in Val di Non. It was also a beloved wine drunk at Franz Josef emperor and Princess Sissi court up to Vienna: in recent times, Groppello risked losing itself, supplanted by the cultivation of apples. But Pietro, Silvia and a few other winemakers have planted it again, since 2001. This Groppello is grown in the territory of Romallo, a small town in Val di Non, near Trento (chief town of Trentino), on the banks of the artificial lake of Santa Giustina at a height about 650-700 meters above sea level, on rocky and clayey soils. This matter was a true return to history for entire territory. Now, I’m talking about tasting a delicious classic method sparkling wine produced from Groppello di Revò grapes vinified in white.
My tasting note. LasteRosse Classic Method Extra Brut 2013.
I tasted the bottle number 118 (production: only 1500 bottles). It is an extra-brut sparkling wine with a straw yellow color and a fine and persistent perlage. I can note a good aromas evolution, first simple, then more complex: elder flowers, pear, annurca apple, lemon and mandarin, sweet almond, notes of flour and yeast in the finish. Taste shows good freshness and discreet sapidity, slender, of medium body, with a final note of cedar and a light bitter. You can drink this sparkling wine so much and never get tired: it will refresh your palate. An original choice defintaely out of the usual sparkling wines.
Some technical data. Degorgement 2017. 100% Groppello grapes. The still wine obtained from the white vinification of Groppello grapes, harvested manually in the second decade of October, is used as a base. It’is fermented in the bottle and matured on the lees for at least 36-40 months. White vinification in reduction in steel barrels. Aging over 36 months on yeast and aging in bottle.
Organic and biodynamic wine.
Matching different possibilities. Recommend drinking from aperitif to the whole meal.
Retail price: € 12 – $ 15. My rating: 89/100