Teresa La Grande

Ruché is one of Piedmont's few aromatic red grapes, and this is Nadia Verrua's, from Cascina 'Tavijn in the sandy Monferrato hills at Scurzolengo. The Teresa cuvées are named for her mother, Maria Teresa; 'la Grande' is the long-aged version, the same Ruché given an extra year in a large Slavonian botte before bottling. Native-yeast fermentation, whole berries, a maceration of around two months, no fining, no filtering and no added sulphur. It could have carried the Ruché di Castagnole Monferrato name, but Verrua bottles it as plain Vino Rosso, having walked away from the appellations to work as she likes. 14%.