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The wine of the week: Valtellina Superiore Vigneto Fracia 2015 Nino Negri – Italian Cuisine

From a cru from the sub-area of Valgella, a great red that tells the territory, focusing on elegance and the ability to challenge time

Going along the SS38, which leads from Switzerland to Lake Como, one cannot help but be enchanted by the spectacle of the Valtellina vineyards. Thousands of kilometers of dry stone walls welcome and contain the Nebbiolo grape plants, here called chiavennasca, clinging to the sides of the mountains and exposed in full South: this work by peasant engineering, developed in Roman times, has characterized the valley for over two thousand years. Walking through the vineyards is the easiest way to understand what the expression “heroic viticulture": The slopes are extreme, the works must be carried out almost always without the help of the machines, the heat in summer is hellish (not for nothing one of the sub-regions of Valtellina is called Inferno).

The most important and representative cellar of the denomination is undoubtedly the Nino Negri, inaugurated in 1897, enlarged in the sixties by Nino's son, Carlo Negri, and today owned by the Italian Wine Group. Guided for 40 years by the Trentino oenologist Casimiro Maule, "inventor" of the iconic 5-star Sfrusat wine, it is today run by the Piedmontese Danilo Drocco and produces about 800,000 bottles a year. To the 31 hectares of property there are added 120 worked by historical contributors, who go on to compose a truly impressive heritage of vineyards for the territory. But if you had to choose just one place to represent the company, you would have to reach the sub-area of Valgella, in the easternmost sector of the denomination, where the Fracia vineyard, the first purchased by the Negri family. It is a real one 10 hectare cru (of which 7 are from Nino Negri), facing south, at an altitude ranging from 350 to 500 meters. As in the rest of the Valtellina, the strong temperature changes between day and night and between winter and summer and the constant action of the Foehn alpine wind ensure the optimal environment for the maturation of the chiavennasca grape, which is harvested here in October, when it reaches a slight over-ripeness. With these grapes the Valtellina Superiore Vigneto Fracia is produced, one of the most elegant and territorial reds of Nino Negri: drunk in youth, it is able to seduce with its aromas ranging from violet to rose, to plum, enlivened by spicy notes that recall the clove, but if you have time to let it mature in the cellar for a few years, you will find yourself uncorking a magnificent wine with grace and complexity.

Why now: it is the best time to walk in the mountains and then take a break in a trattoria, sipping a local red, with robust alpine dishes.

As did: after the vinification, lasting 8 days, the wine made a passage in steel, then it was aged in second passage barriques for about 20 months. He rested another 6 months in bottle before being put on the market.

To combine with: pizzoccheri, pork loin with prunes, seasoned cheeses, grilled meats, game.

Serve it at: 16 ° C.

Price: 28 euros.

ninonegri.it

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The wine of the week: Adènzia Bianco 2018 Baglio del Cristo di Campobello – Italian Cuisine

From one of the less known areas of Sicily for the production of wine, a large white with a small price, perfect for seafood

"Vignaioli for passion and dedication", we read on the site of Baglio del Cristo di Campobello. And it is enough to know the Bonetta family to understand that it is not just a slogan. Carmelo, with Domenico, took over the reins of the company, but his father Angelo is still active in the day-to-day management, and then there are wives and children, who work so that work at the Baglio del Cristo is a well-matched choir. We are a Campobello di Licata, in the province of Agrigento, in a marvelous nothingness where the gaze can range for kilometers on the countryside. The sea is near, it is about ten kilometers away, and it is felt in the evening breezes, which cool and smell of salt.

The first thing you notice when you arrive in the beam is the statue of Jesus crucified, which protects the entrance and is a destination every May of Pilligrinaggiu a lu Cristu, a deeply felt religious procession, which involves the inhabitants of the surroundings and beyond.

The company works some thirty hectares of property, planted with indigenous and international vines, on rolling hills of chalky calcareous matrix; each vineyard is vinified separately and in the cellar we make use of the advice of a famous oenologist like Riccardo Cotarella, for an annual production of around 300,000 bottles.

It is difficult to choose which is the best label: the CDC Cristo di Campobello Bianco has an exceptional relationship between quality and price and is the wine for the everyday table; the Nero d’Avola Lu Patri and the Grillo Lalùci are perhaps the most famous, destined to become icons of contemporary Sicilian viticulture. And then there is the Adènzia Bianco, a mix of native vines cricket and insolia, that with the 2018 vintage has reached levels of absolute value or, to put it better, is very good! Like all the labels signed by Baglio, it is a very gastronomic wine, which is enhanced by the combination with food. The aromas are those of ripe fruit, peach and medlar above all, and of broom flowers, with hints of citrus and fresh almond; it is very pleasant to the taste, delicate and intense at the same time, with an adequate acid-sapid spine and a slightly spicy finish. With a price like this, you risk doing the business of the season.

Why now: in this wine you can feel the sea and the desire to go on vacation is great for everyone.

As did: after soft pressing, the fermentation takes place in steel, as well as the refinement of the wine which lasts for 5 months on the fine lees. The wine is then refined for a couple of months in the bottle before being sold.

To combine with: octopus salad, steamed crustaceans, sushi, spaghetti with mussels and clams, pumpkin flowers stuffed with feta.

Serve it at: 8-10 ° C.

Price: 12.50 euros.

cristodicampobello.it

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The wine of the week: Colli Piacentini Malvasia Emiliana 2018 Lusenti – Italian Cuisine

Summer has arrived. The time has come to uncork wines that are drinkable and low in alcohol, like this white refermented in the Colli Piacentini bottle

It is noon and the grandmother is hungry. On the table filled with bottles – Lodovica Lusenti produces an infinity of labels – a piece of really good cheese comes out, so much so that, at the appearance of the casing alone, even the dogs will raise their ears. Shortly thereafter, we will move to a trattoria (including my grandmother), the ones that make the joy of truck drivers and those like me, in Milan, usually eat a salad in an anonymous bar. Towards the end of the lunch, even an accordion appears and my visit to the cellar, which should have lasted a couple of hours, takes the form of a reunion with old friends, even though we only know each other since morning.

Since that time I have a wine of the heart, with which I inaugurate thearrival of the warm season. The wine is declined in the feminine – it is called Malvasia Emiliana – and resembles so much to those who produce it. Lodovica is a bubbly woman, full of brio, genuine and welcoming, of other times: the wine that best represents her could only be a white man as it was once, a refermented in the bottle, of those to be uncorked to a picnic, after letting it cool in the waters of a stream. The Malvasia Emiliana is born on the Colli Piacentini, in the area of Ziano, in Valtidone, on hills exposed to the north-west, with clay-loamy soils, veined here and there by a bit of limestone. It is made with organic grapes of Malvasia di Candia aromatica, a typical Piacentino grape variety which, as the name suggests, is generous in aromas: it ranges from wisteria to yellow fruit, citrus fruits and they blend well with the flavor and the refreshing, pleasantly sour note.

Above all it is a wine that does not exceed 11.5% alcohol and is easily drunk even on the hottest days. Before untapping it, follow Lodovica's advice e shake the bottle to put back the yeasts in suspension: in the glass you will have a cloudy wine, but even more full of taste.

Why now: little alcohol, easy to drink and lightness: it is a perfect white for summer recipes.

As did: after vinification in steel, the wine is bottled with its own yeasts and 10% of sweet Malvasia must; this will trigger the refermentation in the bottle which will bring the wine to be sparkling.

To combine with: savory pies, omelettes with vegetables, stuffed vegetables, rice salad, fried fish, cold cuts and fried dumplings.

Serve it at: 6-8 ° C.

Price: 12 euros.

lusentivini.it

From a cru from the sub-area of ​​Valgella, a great red that tells the territory, focusing on elegance and the ability to challenge time

From one of the less known areas of Sicily for the production of wine, a large white with a small price, perfect for seafood

Summer has arrived. The time has come to uncork wines that are drinkable and low in alcohol, like this white refermented in the Colli Piacentini bottle

Our recipes in combination

From a cru from the sub-area of Valgella, a great red that tells the territory, focusing on elegance and the ability to challenge time