This was perfection. Full stop. Ten points, 100, A plus, whatever scale you want to drag into the room, it all collapses under the same truth: it does not get better than this. The 2016 Ar.Pe.Pe. Sassella Rocce Rosse Riserva was so achingly beautiful, so complete, so internally right, that halfway through I stopped even trying to “evaluate” it and just gave in. What makes it unbearable, in the best way, is how nothing sticks out and yet everything glows. The wine has lift, detail, soul, delicacy, authority, all of it moving at once, all of it perfectly proportioned. It just stands there in complete command of itself, and the longer it sits in the glass the more it seems to reveal that perfection and grace are not opposites. They are partners. Words really do start to fail with a wine like this, because the whole point of the experience is that it reaches past language.
This was perfection. Full stop. Ten points, 100, A plus, whatever scale you want to drag into the room, it all collapses under the same truth: it does not get better than this. The 2016 Ar.Pe.Pe. Sassella Rocce Rosse Riserva was so achingly beautiful, so complete, so internally right, that halfway through I stopped even trying to “evaluate” it and just gave in. What makes it unbearable, in the best way, is how nothing sticks out and yet everything glows. The wine has lift, detail, soul, delicacy, authority, all of it moving at once, all of it perfectly proportioned. It just stands there in complete command of itself, and the longer it sits in the glass the more it seems to reveal that perfection and grace are not opposites. They are partners. Words really do start to fail with a wine like this, because the whole point of the experience is that it reaches past language.
Apr 4th, 2026
Fantastic , coffee , nougat , leather and lavender nose .
Fantastic , coffee , nougat , leather and lavender nose .
Oct 26th, 2022Elegant , maraschino cherries , soft soft tannins
Elegant , maraschino cherries , soft soft tannins
Mar 22nd, 2022
Nose is exceptionally pretty, red fruit, black tea, floral, spicy, acid there…tannin smooth and not elevated…just a fine wine to drink..
Nose is exceptionally pretty, red fruit, black tea, floral, spicy, acid there…tannin smooth and not elevated…just a fine wine to drink..
Oct 24th, 2021
Second bottle of this. Would be hard to get to Nebbiolo (err…Chiavenesca!) blind. Tea leaves, earth, and sour cherry.
Second bottle of this. Would be hard to get to Nebbiolo (err…Chiavenesca!) blind. Tea leaves, earth, and sour cherry.
Oct 23rd, 2021
The 2007 Valtellina Superiore Sassella Riserva Rocce Rosse is another superb wine from Ar.Pe.Pe. Four years in cask and several more in bottle - along with the personality of the year - yielded a relatively soft Valtellina Superiore with gentle contours and plenty of appeal. Readers who prefer wines with delineation and energy will find those qualities more expressed in some of the other wines in this range. The 2007 Rocce Rosse, on the other hand, is a relatively easygoing wine that can be enjoyed with minimal fanfare. It also appears to be on a relatively fast curve of aging. (Antonio Galloni, Vinous, April 2020)
The 2007 Valtellina Superiore Sassella Riserva Rocce Rosse is another superb wine from Ar.Pe.Pe. Four years in cask and several more in bottle - along with the personality of the year - yielded a relatively soft Valtellina Superiore with gentle contours and plenty of appeal. Readers who prefer wines with delineation and energy will find those qualities more expressed in some of the other wines in this range. The 2007 Rocce Rosse, on the other hand, is a relatively easygoing wine that can be enjoyed with minimal fanfare. It also appears to be on a relatively fast curve of aging. (Antonio Galloni, Vinous, April 2020)
Apr 28th, 2020
Valtellina, Sondrio, Lombardia, Italy
