2018 Proprietà Sperino, Uvaggio, Coste delle Sesia Rosso DOC, Alta Langhe, Piedmonte, Italy.
The beautiful and delicious light ruby and garnet hued Uvaggio Coste delle Sesia Rosso, by Proprietà Sperino, is typically a blend of 80% Nebbiolo, called Spanna locally, plus about 5% Croatina and 15% Vespolina, both native varietals to this part of the Alta Langhe in northern Piedmonte, making for, especially this vintage, a great wine to enjoy in its youth and with food. This 2018 is a bit fresher and brighter than the 2017, which I also loved, with pretty floral and delicately earthy aromatics and a lifted medium bodied palate of Nebbiolo led flavors, including brandied cherry, Summer plum, red currant and grilled orange fruits, along with seeped roses, tarry licorice, mineral tones, roasted herbs, porcini and sandalwood accents. There’s a lot to like here and this 2018 Uvaggio Coste delle Sesia Rosso feels rewardingly viscous and satiny smooth, hiding the underlying tannins and allowing for pure pleasure to shine here, I again highly recommend this Proprietà Sperino bottling, which has really impressed me. Proprietà Sperino is on a mission to raise the profile of the Lessona region, and I think they are well on their way to accomplish that with a collection of stylish, complex and quality wines.
The Proprietà Sperino winery, run by Luca de Marchi, is located in the Lessona DOC appellation, in the Alta Langhe part of the greater Piedmonte region, and is one of the oldest and most historic wine-growing areas in Italy, with wine production records showing it was thriving as early as the 14th century. The terroir here has soils consisting of marine sand and Alpine granite that are perfectly suited for the Nebbiolo, and make for conditions to produce exceptional long lived wines, almost on par with the more famous Barbaresco and Barolo wines. The Nebbiolo here is very aromatic and complex, and can be lifted by the addition of small amounts of Vespolina and Croatina, that can add to the flowery bouquet, pigment and in this case gives some spicy notes to this Uvaggio Rosso. The Uvaggio Coste della Sesia DOC is made from sustainable farmed grapes, which are all de-stemmed and it is fermented in tank and used wood before being racked over to oak, where it was aged 22 months in mostly small tonneau/barriques then bottled unfined and unfiltered. I recently tasted this new vintage of the Uvaggio Coste delle Sesia, and got to re-vist the upper end Lessona from 2015, that I already reviewed last year, and it was everything I remembered it to be and really am excited to try the upcoming 2016 that should be out soon. The northern part of Piedmonte is really catching fire with Nebbiolo fans and Proprietà Sperino is a solid choice to get started with.
($45 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive