Ar. Pe. Pe. Valtellina Superiore Sassella Ultimi Raggi Riserva 2009
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Enthusiast
Wine -
Parker
Robert
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Just before the snow, between mid- and the end of November, it is picked, softly pressed and slammed in the vat. At racking it is completely dry and the acidity remains clearly evident. The slight drying of the grapes mitigates the nervous tannin of Valtellina Superiore Sassella Riserva Ultimi Raggi DOCG and aging in large cask smoothes its dense texture.The sweetness of ripe fruit can thus be found in the scent, without cloying softness on the palate.
Blend: 100% Nebbiolo
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
You'll find aromas of ripe berry, exotic spice, scorched earth, violet and balsamic notes on this generous fragrant red. The structured savory palate delivers crushed raspberry, succulent red cherry, star anise and tobacco alongside decisive but refined tannins. It's balanced, with fresh acidity.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Ultimi Raggi means "last rays" in Italian, and it's impossible not to think of the pink and gold colors that illuminate the last tips of the Italian Alps as the setting sun makes its final descent of the day. The 2009 Valtellina Superiore Riserva Sassella Ultimi Raggi expresses that terrestrial poetry with dark fruit intensity. Of the various samples tasted from Ar.Pe.Pe., this wine is the most open, immediate and generous. It reveals a slightly darker appearance and rounder fruit flavors of cherry and dried blackberry. This is the most primary of the wines in this fight. This single-vineyard expression is only made in the best years. Only 6,000 bottles were produced. The wine ferments on the skins for 30 days in oak, and it then ages in a combination of chestnut wood (for five years) and cement (for an additional three years).
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2013- Decanter
Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.
Containing an exciting mix of wine producing subregions, Lombardy is Italy’s largest in size and population. Good quality Pinot noir, Bonarda and Barbera have elevated the reputation of the plains of Oltrepò Pavese. To its northeast in the Alps, Valtellina is the source of Italy’s best Nebbiolo wines outside of Piedmont. Often missed in the shadow of Prosecco, Franciacorta produces collectively Italy’s best Champagne style wines, and for the fun and less serious bubbly, find Lambrusco Mantovano around the city of Mantua. Lugana, a dry white with a devoted following, is produced to the southwest of Lake Garda.