'Sassella' Valtellina Superiore DOCG Aldo Rainoldi 2021

The Valtellina Superiore docg Sassella red wine from the Rainoldi winery is a product of excellence from Valtellina. It is the wine of the best known of the sub-zones into which Valtellina Superiore is divided. The Valtellina Superiore docg Sassella is produced from 100% Nebbiolo grapes, as per regulation. The land on which the Nebbiolo vineyards are located is rich in ferrous rock, with a typically very superficial sub-acid reaction. Characteristics that give body and structure to the wine. The rigorously manual harvest takes place in the first ten days of October. The vinification takes place at the end of a slow maceration at a controlled temperature with a cyclical cadence of pumping over and punching down; afterwards, the wine is placed in steel tanks so that the malolactic fermentation is completed by spring. Once the fermentations are complete, the Sassella ages for at least 20 months in Slavonian oak barrels. Subsequent refinement in the bottle is fundamental, carried out in dark and cool cellars for at least 9 months. Red wine with characteristics of particular harmony already after two or three years. It is particularly suitable with red meats, even if it goes well with hearty first courses and medium-aged cheeses. For long aging it is advisable to keep the bottle horizontally in a cool place at a constant temperature. The Rainoldi di Casacce cellars, near Chiuro, were built almost a century ago, in 1925 thanks to an ambitious project by the founding father of this family business. Valtellina is a harsh territory, surrounded by mountains, and is the second area in the world for the cultivation of Nebbiolo grapes (which in these parts is called Chiavennasca). Precisely because of the mountainous and often extreme territory, in Valtellina it is possible to admire the spectacle of the terraced vineyards, thanks to 2,500 kilometers of dry stone walls (which delimit them)! This territory is so steep that sometimes, during the harvest, the intervention of the helicopter is necessary to bring the gathered grapes down to the valley.