Funny enough, Barbacan and ArPePe were available. But entirely due to being able to find the others I grabbed this.
Honestly, I have precious little experience with Valtellina. Thst said. I dug it
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2021 Bruno Rocca Barbaresco Rabajà: So perfumed, pretty and elegant. Red fruited with gorgeous florals. Silky of texture. Builds through the palate and expands. Excellent depth, length and balance. A joy to drink young but plenty of wine here upon which to age.
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Ar.Pe.Pe is a puzzlement to me. As one of the most celebrated producers of Valtellina, a wine I like a lot, I’ve bought and tasted many over the years and have never found one I really liked, finding them very hard edged in general. Not at any age, not from any source, not in any country. So I gave up and decided they are not for me.
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Earlier this week from a short stop in Piemonte: Borgogno e Carbone Barolo Perno ‘Vigna Santo Stefano’. First time trying this. It’s made by two of the guys at More e Macine, La Morra. I believe 2020 is their first vintage. I think they rent the vineyard and vinify at Scarzello.
I really like the style, with super classic aromas of red fruit, dried flowers a little shoepolish. Great fresh acidity, a smooth mouthfeel and distinct but fine-grained tannins. Very approachable.
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That surely makes sense Sarah. I can perhaps see what you mean, as I have had bottles that are austere to the point of challenging. Not entirely sure if that is what you mean by hard edged, but seems in the same ballpark. That said, I enjoy them most of the time. Who do you like in Valtellina?
Hard-edged, this is a great description of the ARPEPE style. Like a diamond 
This is a good question, and I find myself unable to give a good answer. I don’t really have any in the cellar except a few lingering Ar.Pe.Pe. but have had a lot in Italy and elsewhere in restaurants, enough to feel an affinity for the appellation. I guess I put it in the broader category of Alto Piemonte when I talk about liking it.
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Most of the very best, truly authentic Valtellina wines are probably always going to be a little austere when compared to most other Nebbiolo (including most from the Alto Piemonte). I think one needs to be a bit into the “less is more” aesthetic generally to appreciate these wines. But then, even here, generalising is a thankless task. ARPEPE? It all depends, which particular wine, which vintage. Just the other day I had a bottle of the 2009 Rocce Rosse that felt very plush in the context :-). Also, the Fiamme Antiche is always likely to be a slightly fuller, richer wine, so to speak, than the Stella Retica or the Rocca de Piro etc.
Has anyone had Nino Negri’s high-end stuff like Vigneto Fracia? Wonderful wines even for Barolo drinkers.
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I met Christophe Kunzli, the winemaker at Le Piane in the Alto Piemonte, briefly back in March as he was pouring some of his wines in a San Francisco wine shop near me. Very friendly, affable guy, and I was able to pick his brain a little about Boca and the Alto Piemonte in general.
Very brief impressions below (also, file this under “mostly Nebbiolo”):
2021 Le Piane Vino Bianco “Blanka” Linear, acid-driven, minerally, and pure. This didn’t feel texturally that viscous to me, but it may be a factor of the vintage. And Kunzli confirmed to me this is 100% Erbaluce. A really nice wine.
2023 Le Piane Colline Novaresi Nebbiolo An easy-drinking red that didn’t exactly scream Nebbiolo to me aromatically, but had a touch of grip and lift that I imagine would pair well with a variety of foods. Not bad at all.
2019 Le Piane Vino Rosso “Mimmo” Definitely imbued with a more pronounced Nebbiolo character than the Colline Novaresi (despite having quite a bit of Vespolina and some Croatina in it) with some nice floral notes on the nose. A denser palate than the Colline Novaresi with dark fruit and bit of white pepper and spice woven in.
2017 Le Piane Boca Essentially a much more intense version of the Mimmo, with aromas of roses and dark cherries wafting out of the glass. While there is a bit of grip, the tannins are actually already quite silky and accessible, and there is plenty of fruit and spice and energy to make this quite enjoyable right now.
2018 Le Piane Vino Rosso “Piane” According to Kunzli, this is 100% Croatina and his take on a more “California” style of wine. Definitely the ripest wine of the bunch, quite velvety and lush on the palate, but there is still structure and acidity to keep it from being a gloopy bore. Not bad; like a tasteful Zinfandel.
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What was your conclusion? Of the few Le Piane Boca I’ve had, I felt that they were not better or even as good as a number of Alto Piemonte “mostly Nebbiolo” wines that cost much less.
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The Boca was very good, but it was not better than say the Colombera & Garella Bramaterra or Lessona wines, which can be almost half the price. But, that may be a case of Colombera & Garella being great bargains.
I have not had the Davide Carlone Boca, which would be a very interesting comparison.
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I totally agree on the C&G. Davide Carlone’s Boca are also excellent as are Castello di Conti (but more expensive). And Vallana Boca is a steal at half the price of Le Piane.
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+1 on ArPePe, have had maybe two dozen bottles over 15 vintages and have never gotten the hype. They just seem very neutral, no excitement.
And yes! Colombera & Garella Bramaterra or Lessona wines are reliably delicious and pretty fantastic bargains. Wish they were more consistently present in the PNW retail market.
Where are you in the PNW? Sec in Portland usually gets them in every year.
I am a huge Scarpa fan originally getting savvy to them from the Wasserman book. I got to drink a number of 1964s before having a long and hilarious visit there in 2003. It seems to be sort of a time capsule winery that never wavered from old school traditions going back to the 1950s.
This 1989 was a recent auction purchase and had clearly been cared for as it was in perfect condition. Zero sediment. Decanted around noon, tasted at six, finished around eight, it continued to evolve and deepen with each glass. Nothing rustic; very clean and pure winemaking. Just wonderful.
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I can’t argue with this, but gotta love a wine region in which some of the more expensive wines (other than Conterno, an outlier) ar in the $60 or $70 range. Rovelloti, Conti, Vallana, are some of my favorites.
Ordered a Travaglini Gattinara off a restaurant list at Lake Maggiore recently. Gotta love the local wines :). Yum.
Seattle. I see them up here occasionally but not consistently. Will check out Sec!
A couple of weeks ago I (with my wife) travelled by train from Milan to Tirano, along the east shore of the Como lake and all along the amazing Valtellina valley. The point of the trip was not wine related, but to connect to the narrow gauge Bernina train to take us up to 2260 meters above sea level and through Switzerland, an amazing trip that has been on my bucket list for some years.If you ever are in Milan, this is an amazing trip that I would do again if possible.
Not easy to get good pictures from a railway carriage, but the route took us through the Grumello, Sassella and Inferno vineyards, narrow valley so we had first rate views of everything. Here are some pictures, the first one from Ar.Pe.Pes Sasella vineyard.
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BTW if you have a day in Milan a visit is easily doable. The regional train takes around 2,5 hrs and costs 20 USD one way, no seat reservations necessary. As a bonus you will get to see lake Como. Meet early and board in Milan and you will get a good seat, sit on the left side. A winemaker visit and a return in one day is easy, though I recommend an extra day and taking the amazing Bernina railwail to Pontresina or St Moritz and return the same day to Tirano. No need to take the expensive express, just take the regular Swiss connection, superb carriages. No reservations, just buy a return ticket and meet early for a good seat. You can jump on/off anywhere on the route for a walk in the Alps with your ticket, hourly connections. We spent some time with a cold beer at Alp Grum ar 2100 meters above sea level before jumping on the next train (though we continued to Liechtenstein).
From the train window at 1400 meters, having climbed 1000 meters from Tirano, but still climbing to 2256 meters.
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I went to a Ca’ del Baio tasting with Federica Grasso in October 2024 where she mainly presented the winery’s 2021 Barbaresco (as well as a 2019 Riserva and a 2023 Langhe Nebbiolo). Federica said that she felt Ca’ del Baio’s 2021s were superior to the 2016s, which she had considered the winery’s best vintage in the past 10 years. Personally, I felt that the wines were generally very pure and accessible (with the Riserva being the notable exception). I particularly liked the tension and citric quality of their 2021 Treiso wines (Autinbej and Vallegrande). In contrast, I thought the 2021 Asili was perhaps a touch too plush for my taste while the 2019 Asili Riserva was not ready for primetime with its sheen of polish and woodsiness to it…
Frederica was also quite transparent about the elevage of the Ca’ del Baio wines: all three of the non-riserva Barbarescos are aged in 2000-5000 liter used Slavonian oak botte now, including the Asili. The one exception is the '19 Ca del Baio Asili Riserva, which is aged in tonneaux (I think she said 800 liters) because they don’t have enough of it to put into botte.
2023 Ca’ del Baio Langhe Nebbiolo: More cherry than roses on the nose. Firm, drying tannins, but mostly juicy fruit on the palate. Very tannic. Apparently this sees carbonic maceration in stainless steel tank.
2021 Ca’ del Baio Barbaresco Autinbej: An expressive, high-toned nose balanced between aromas of dark cherry and roses. Fruit is quite understated, and there’s plenty of freshness and tangy acidity. While silky on the initial attack and mid-palate, the drying quality of the tannins builds on the slightly spiced finish.
2021 Ca’ del Baio Barbaresco Vallegrande: The nose has a touch of balsamic layered over the top of the aromas of cherry and roses. While silky texturally, there’s a nervy quality to the acidity (which I find often in wines from Treiso terroirs). Incisive and sharp, with drying tannins coating the surface of the mouth, the wine is primarily about the structure and bright acid, with just an undertone of red fruit and citrusy lime zest flavors to soften the palate. Quite good, though many may find this a bit austere.
2021 Ca’ del Baio Barbaresco Asili: This seems a little tight on the nose, but the palate has forward, dark red fruit. There’s a slight ashy quality on the finish, but the wine overall has a spherical quality texturally, a wine of breadth, but also elegance. This definitely needs more time than the Vallegrande.
2019 Ca’ del Baio Barbaresco Riserva Asili: This a big boy. The nose is powerful, but there’s also a subtle hint of wood on it. Very silky, very round, with ripe and rich dark red fruit saturating the palate. This is intense and concentrated and needs a lot of time. Not particularly enjoyable at this moment.
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