ArPePe Il Pettirosso Valtellina Superiore 2022
From Skurnik Wine Imports:
These wines from ARPEPE (an abbreviation of founder Arturo Pelizzatti Perego’s initials) are among the most impressive I tasted… From top to bottom, the wines are deserving of serious attention. The super-traditional style will leave lovers of translucent Nebbiolo weak at the knees… Perhaps most importantly, ARPEPE shows just how pedigreed the wines of Valtellina can be.”—Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Tucked in between the Orobic and Retic Alps just south of the Italian-Swiss border, you’ll find the terraced vineyards of ARPEPE. At the helm of this storied estate, located in the Grumello subzone of Valtellina in Lombardy, is the fifth generation of the Pelizzatti Perego family. The roots of this blue-chip estate go back to the 1860s, when the current generation’s great-great-grandfather Giovanni founded a successful winery in the area, then known only as “Pelizzatti.” Over 150 years of history have passed since then, including the dark days of the 1970s during which the current generation’s grandfather fell ill, and the family was forced to sell the Pelizzatti brand along with some of their vineyards. The more recent history of the estate is an almost deus-ex-machina turn of events: the family re-founded their company under the ARPEPE label in 1984, got back many of their proprietary vineyards from renters, and were able to reclaim their cellar in Grumello. Today, ARPEPE is widely recognized as the single best producer in the appellation (as well as a benchmark producer of Nebbiolo in general) and we couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome them to the Skurnik Wines portfolio!
The pettirosso (robin redbreast) can be found everywhere in the woods that now look down on the Valtellina, which was once under vine far higher up. Robins rarely enter the cellar, but that day one came in and alighted on an old wooden barrel, as if warning us of something. A few days later, while she was tasting the wine, Isabella noticed there was a slight leak from one of the acacia staves.
The wine appeared to be ready for bottling, but the barrel unfortunately needed replacing. There wasn’t enough to warrant a new label so she and Emanuele chose a few barrels of that ’97 – the most mature – and it became Il Pettirosso.
Arturo designed the first labels and so, to continue the family tradition, Isabella asked her husband Enrico to do it, in view of the success of the first: the Rosso di Valtellina.
On some special evenings, Il Pettirosso comes to dinner on the terraces above Sondrio, chirping merrily. This Valtellina Superiore is the unanimous expression of the two central areas of the DOCG (Sassella and Grumello).
The maceration and ageing are decided on the spot, almost like an actor improvising the plot of a play. It seems that the plot written by Arturo provides the perfect ground for building up the wines of tomorrow.
