Sassella Stella Retica

Stella Retica is Ar.Pe.Pe.'s 'normale' Sassella, blended across three family parcels in the Sassella subzone: Rocce Rosse (high-iron schist and granite with very little topsoil), Nuova Regina (smaller terraces with less iron), and Ultimi Raggi (the highest at about 600 metres, harvested latest). The wine spends around four months (roughly 120 days) on the skins in open tini, then about 18 months in large, untoasted 50-hectolitre botti of Slavonian, French, or chestnut oak, followed by around two years of bottle age before release. 2015 in Valtellina was a warm vintage on the riper end of the Chiavennasca spectrum, tempered by Sassella's steep, well-aired terraces. The result is the house's signature - pale-rimmed, transparent Nebbiolo with floral lift, alpine herbs, and the granite-borne tension that distinguishes Valtellina from its Piemonte cousins.