Vespolina

Nebbiolo forms eighty percent of the blend, with Croatina and Vespolina at ten percent each. The Cottignano parcel lies at 350 metres in Masserano, on acidic volcanic porphyritic sand. The organically farmed vines are twenty to fifty years old. Native-yeast fermentation follows destemming and soft crushing, with up to forty days on skins. The blend rests six months in concrete, then two years in an older large oak cask.

The blend contains sixty-five percent Nebbiolo, twenty percent Croatina and fifteen percent Vespolina. Strawberry, saline character and a mineral edge are present. The fruit comes from young vines in Bramaterra and Lessona vineyards outside the Costa della Sesia appellation. Melascone is a local dialect term for Nebbiolo, and the wine was previously called Costa della Sesia.

Crushed rose petal, white pepper, cedar and pipe tobacco form the aromatic profile. Minerality and freshness are present. The blend is eighty-five percent Nebbiolo and fifteen percent Vespolina. Fruit comes from thirty- to fifty-year-old vineyards rooted in volcanic porphyry gravel. Fermentation with the skins takes place in open steel and wooden casks. The wine aged four years, was bottled without filtration or fining, and rested for six months.

The wine comes from a single 0.8-hectare parcel planted in the early twentieth century. Nebbiolo accounts for eighty-five percent of the blend, with Croatina and Vespolina making up the remainder. The parcel lies in Masserano in Alto Piemonte, and fragrance is a hallmark of the site. The bottling is separate from the winery’s Bramaterra cru, and the vineyard is now owned by the winery.