Ultimi Raggi Sassella Valtellina Superiore Nebbiolo

And paired with compressed duck leg and tea macerated cherries it is even better - so dense yet light on its feet

Winemaker lunch w/ Izzy Ar Pe Pe

My precious. Exactly what I like to drink. Fine but high tannins with mouthwatering acidity. Bramble fruit gummy candy.

Giampaolo had this 11 years ago

Vibrant dried berry, savory, tobacco. Perfect foil to Xmas osso buco w blue cheese and pignoli polenta

Lean and pretty with rose petals and cream. Deep hints of tobacco. Dark and wild. Lots of secondary aromas. Finish of burnt caramel. $75

From the very top of impossibly steep slate slopes. Intense minerality dominates fruit.

A late picked Nebbiolo has a hint of cooked fruit but stays away from raisinous characteristics. Still very much an extension of terroir in this cool climate red.

The last rays of the sun

While the aromatic complexity is there, the sweet red fruit I want from mountain Nebbiolo is absent, as this is a dark fruited and fairly tarry wine, and the power and finesse combo I expect from auto Piemonte is replaced by noticeable heat and overwhelming balsamic. I appreciate that this is a late harvest wine. I don’t like late harvest wine. Shudder.