La Stoppa

La Stoppa was founded in the late nineteenth century by the lawyer Giancarlo Ageno, from Genoa, who bought the property and planted it with international varieties - very much the fashion of the time. The estate eventually passed out of the Ageno family and was bought by Raffaele and Angela Pantaleoni in 1973. Their daughter Elena took over in 1991 after her father's death and has been the face of La Stoppa ever since. Giulio Armani joined in 1980 (working first with Raffaele, later with Elena) and runs his own parallel project, Denavolo, in the same hills.

Around fifty hectares of land, roughly thirty-two of them planted to vines, in Ancarano di Rivergaro in the Val Trebbia, Colli Piacentini. Heavy clay. Starting in the mid-1990s, the international varieties Ageno had planted were gradually pulled out - they ripened too early in the warm Piacenza climate - and replanted with local varieties. Today the estate is about 75% red (Barbera and Bonarda) and 25% white (Malvasia di Candia Aromatica, plus small amounts of Ortrugo and Trebbiano). Farmed organically since the early 1990s, certified in 2008. Native yeasts, long aging in Slavonian oak botti and old French oak casks.

The flagship is Ageno - mostly Malvasia di Candia Aromatica with small amounts of Ortrugo and Trebbiano, macerated on skins for four months before aging. It is one of Italy's earliest modern revivals of long-skin-contact white wine, often cited alongside Gravner as the origin story of what the world now calls orange wine. The reds are similarly unhurried: Trebbiolo (roughly 60/40 Barbera-Bonarda, the entry wine, released the summer after harvest), Macchiona (older-vine Barbera-Bonarda, three years in botti plus two in bottle), and Barbera della Stoppa (pure Barbera from 100-year-old vines, a year in old French oak plus two in bottle, made only in vintages they consider worth it - the label has existed since 1990). Vigna del Volta is a passito from dried Malvasia di Candia with a touch of Moscato.

Elena Pantaleoni is a senior voice in Italian natural wine - La Stoppa is a long-standing member of the Triple A and ViniVeri circles. The wines are released when they are ready, which is often long after the rest of Italy has moved on.