Best wishes to Frecciarossa, who turns one hundred years old and is in splendid shape. Like his great Pinot Noir, one of the reds symbol of the Oltrepo
There are goats that keep the forest clean and cows that provide manure to fertilize the vines. And, then, a crowd of dogs, beehives with bees, orchard, vegetable garden, cured meats hung to age in the cellar, along with cups and pancetta. Frecciarossa is a historic company of the Oltrepo – this year turns 100 years old– but here you can't breathe that ancient and somewhat snobbish air that is found in many noble wineries. The wines were among the first to be exported abroad: "We have the license number 19" tells me the owner Valeria Radici; He even knew them Alfred Hitchcock, who was crazy about our Sauvignon ”.
The company's history begins with the great-grandfather of Valeria; Mario Odero lived in Wales, where he worked in the coal branch; World War I forced him to return to his homeland, but he did not want to stay in his hometown of Genoa. After a trip to Oltrepo, he remains so impressed by the landscape that he decides to sell everything he has to buy the Frecciarossa estate. But it is his son Giorgio who gives great impetus to wine production, after a trip to France, a country from which he brings back ideas and techniques to make quality wines and the passion for Pinot Noir. His daughter Margherita, one of the first to continue women in Italy to deal with wine, until, after a life lived in Paris, Valeria also feels the call of this land. "As a child I spent summers here and it's the only place I've always felt like home."
Speaking of his wines, he told me that “Carillo is the most essential version of Pinot Noir, it is fresh and focused on the fruit, without superstructures; it is the wine in which I recognize myself more, together with the Anamari, the red with the native grapes of the Oltrepo, which we have resumed to produce ". But the wine that best represents the great history of the company is undoubtedly the Giorgio Odero Pinot Noir that among other things, and rarely happens in Italy, can be purchased in the company of well six different years. Produced on the first hills of Casteggio from a single vineyard, it is a wine that needs time to give the best of itself; this is shown by the 2015 vintage, the son of a hot vintage, which is already able to show off a great class and perfect territorial adherence. The aromas are those of small fruits, Rossana candy and red orange; to taste it is juicy, refreshed by balsamic notes. 2014 is more subtle, ready and "Nordic", the son of a cold year with an elegance that brings it closer to Burgundy.
Why now: it's always the right time for Pinot Noir.
As did: fermented with indigenous yeasts in steel tanks at a controlled temperature; maceration lasts about 15 days, followed by aging for 12 months in 25 hectolitre wooden barrels, then six months in steel and, finally, at least one year in the bottle.
To combine with: is very good with recipes based on birds, from pigeon to duck, flat pirmi with meat sauces, roasts and cut.
Serve it at: 16-18 ° C.
Price: 27 euros.
frecciarossa.com
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