Grape blend: 100% Pinot Nero
Aged: 40 months (and still continuing) in the bottle on its lees, pas dosé
Alcohol content: 12.5% vol
Acidity: 5 g/l
Residual sugars: 0.54 g/l
This rosé “Metodo Classico” from La Vialla is made with 100% Pinot Nero grapes from the Oltrepò Pavese area, where many other excellent Italian sparkling wines are produced. What’s more, it’s organic, which is still something rare for this type of wine, and it’s unfiltered, which makes its aroma and flavour even more “genuine”. A cool spring with abundant rainfall between April and May gave rise to a season that wasn’t very productive. However, the low yields led to wines that are richer, more concentrated and, possibly, slightly less acidic than usual. The grapes were picked by hand and put into crates to avoid them getting damaged. The bunches were soft-pressed whole and the resulting juice divided; only the so-called “free-run” must and that of the first pressing were used. Slow fermentation (for 15 days) at a low temperature (16 °C) gave the wine its subtle colour and preserved the delicate aromas of the Pinot Nero. The following spring second fermentation took place in the bottle, where the wine aged on its lees for at least 40 months... The “Cuvée rosé Non filtrato” is not disgorged, which is unusual; it’s a very dry “pas dosé” that is extremely rich in aroma.
Tasting – Colour: pale dusky pink with orange, sunset-like tinges; cloudy and opalescent. The nose: small, fresh, red fruit, raspberries, blackberries on a slice of freshly baked brioche; elegant notes of grapefruit and, typical of La Vialla’s Méthode Traditionnelle wines, saline aromas. In the mouth: the perlage is slightly coarser due to the presence of yeasts; full, sapid, dry, with small red fruits and brioche once more in the aftertaste.
Wine and Food Pairing – The “cloudy” bubbles of this wine can be enjoyed as an unusual aperitif and are excellent with appetizers such as cured ham with melon, crostini topped with sausage and “stracchino”, or semi-mature cheese. They also go well with fish, shellfish and elaborate dishes such as salmon with lemon cream, steamed sea bass with orange, rosemary and olives, “vitello tonnato” or a squash risotto.