interview

<p><em>This interview with Elena Pantaleoni took place at <glossary title="568">L&#39;Herbe Rouge</glossary> in February, 2013.</em></p> <p><strong>Tell us about La&nbsp;Stoppa.</strong><br /> <br /> La&nbsp;Stoppa&nbsp;is located in northwest&nbsp;<glossary title="420">Emilia-Romagna&nbsp;</glossary>and was founded at the end of the 19th century by a lawyer from Genova named Gian Carlo Ageno. He was the first to give value to this land by planting vineyards. In the the 1920&#39;s, he had to replant because of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="788">phylloxera</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> so the oldest vineyards we have are from this period. In the aftermath, Mr. Ageno planted many varieties as an experiment to see what was suited for the area.<br /> <br /> In 1973, my father-who worked his entire life as a printer-purchased the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="427">estate</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> During the war, he was based in the country side and would pass by the vineyards on his bicycle daily. It was his dream to buy La&nbsp;Stoppa, and when he was finally able to afford it, he made it come true. I personally started working here in 1991.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> For our first 20 years of ownership, we <glossary title="1104">vinified</glossary> every vineyard and grape variety separately. But in 1996, we decided to eliminate most of the early ripening grapes &nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span>(<glossary title="271">Chardonnay</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="927">Sauvignon Blanc</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="805">Pinot Noir</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1030">Tokay</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="803">Pinot Gris</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="505">Grechetto</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>..) as they are not exactly suited for our hot climate. Instead, we focused on replanting&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="138">Barbera</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary title="175">Bonarda</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="623">Malvasia</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> all local grapes.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> We are about 250m above&nbsp;sea level, working mainly on <glossary title="301">clay</glossary> soils. The majority of our production consists of red wines produced with <glossary title="138">Barbera</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="175">Bonarda</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> We are a rather large&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="427">estate</glossary><span>:</span></span></span> 32 <glossary title="523">hectares</glossary> of vines and 28 of forest. We make one dry white wine, &quot;Ageno&quot;. We also make a few sweet whites.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>Could you elaborate on how the decision to replant local varieties was taken?</strong><br /> <br /> For many years, we tried our best to make, for example, a great&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="805">Pinot Noir</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> We were always putting our work into question, and eventually came to the conclusion that even if we produced a great&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="805">Pinot Noir</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> even if it was the best <glossary term="Pinot Noir" title="805">Pinot Noir</glossary><glossary title="805">&nbsp;</glossary>in the world, it would still be a copy of something that is already available on the market. This in turn made us realize that these grapes weren&#39;t suitable for our place. They ripen too early, as it is very warm here.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>Before you made this decision, how much of the<font color="#7b143e">&nbsp;estate</font>&nbsp;was already planted in<font color="#7b143e">&nbsp;Barbera</font>&nbsp;and Bonarda?</strong><br /> <br /> About 50%.<br /> <br /> <strong>Were you personally satisfied with the <font color="#7b143e">Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon</font>&nbsp;you were producing?</strong><br /> <br /> Some&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1109">vintages</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> very much. But if you want to be an honest winemaker, it&#39;s very dangerous to try making wines based on your personal taste. I think it&#39;s our job to make a wine from a place, not to force something based on personal taste. If I really want to drink great&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="805">Pinot Noir</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> I&#39;ll buy some from&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="212">Burgundy</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>What&#39;s the work in the vines like?</strong><br /> <br /> We have been <glossary title="260">certified organic</glossary> since 2008, but have been working this way since the early 90&#39;s. Most of the work is done by hand.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> I inherited this <glossary title="427">estate</glossary> from my father, and I think one of my nieces and nephews will probably take over. Therefore I feel like a guardian of this place, and I want to preserve and maintain its sanctity. I know the vineyards can last much longer than I ever will!&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>And in the<font color="#7b143e">&nbsp;cellar</font>?</strong><br /> <br /> When we started, we were using <glossary title="538">indigenous yeasts</glossary> to <glossary title="441">ferment</glossary> the wines and <glossary title="664">minimal intervention</glossary> in the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="254">cellar</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> There was however a 10 year period in the 1980&#39;s were we experimented with<font color="#7b143e"><b>&nbsp;<glossary term="Commercial Yeast" title="321">selected yeasts</glossary></b></font><span class="zalup"><span><span>.</span></span></span> But we had always wanted to work traditionally, so this did not last.<br /> <br /> We do long&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="610">skin macerations</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> because we are in a warm area and want to <glossary term="Extraction" title="433">extract</glossary> as much as possible. We never add <glossary title="993">sulfur</glossary> during&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1104">vinificiation</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> We use&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="986">stainless steel</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary title="325">cement</glossary> and <glossary title="1126">wooden</glossary> <glossary title="1140">tanks</glossary> for <glossary title="441">fermentation</glossary>; big and small <glossary title="142">barrels</glossary> are used for&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="74">aging</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> The wines need slow and natural&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="754">oxygenation</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>How do you feel about the <font color="#7b143e">DOC</font>&nbsp;system?</strong><br /> <br /> All of our wines are&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="535">IGT</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> I don&#39;t believe that the <glossary title="1156">D.O.C</glossary> valorizes place, at least not in our region. We have the right to use 18 different grapes in our <glossary title="1156">DOC</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span>(<glossary title="217">Cabernet Sauvignon</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="805">Pinot Noir</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="927">Sauvignon Blanc</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="271">Chardonnay</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>..), and can make still, sparkling and&nbsp;sweet wines.<br /> <br /> The panel who judges the wines is composed solely of winemakers for the region&#39;s biggest&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="252">cooperatives</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> They don&#39;t care about tradition and history; they are more concerned by what the market needs. For example, a lot of <glossary title="138">Barbera</glossary>/<glossary title="175">Bonarda</glossary> based wines are <glossary title="377">de-acidified</glossary> and made slightly sweet.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>How do you feel about the ongoing &quot;<font color="#7b143e">natural wine</font>&quot; debate?&nbsp;</strong><br /> <br /> Personally, I like to say:&nbsp;<em>&quot;I make wine&quot;</em>. That is what we do. Wine has always been made this way: even as recently as 50 years ago, all the great wines of Italy were &quot;natural&quot; simply by being rooted in tradition. I&#39;m astonished how things changed so much, so fast. People were so quick to forget. I&#39;m talking for us old world producers; if I were in Chile or the United States, maybe I would think differently. But in the old world, wine has always related to a sense of place.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Today, young people who are discovering wine for the first time need a little bit of a helping hand to understand this. So I understand why some choose to use the term&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="708">natural wine</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Maybe for some, it helps them grasp the concept of <glossary title="122">artisanal</glossary> vs&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="539">industrial</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> But maybe we should be taking things further. For example, I am not against listing all the ingredients like all other food products. This way people would be more aware of what they are consuming.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> I laugh when people argue that no wine is natural because it requires the intervention of man to be produced. Of course! But most small, independent <glossary title="427">estates</glossary> take an <glossary title="540">industrial</glossary> approach to making wine! In the end, it&#39;s simply an approach: you are not following the taste of the market or your own personal tastes, you are making the wine that the place and the <glossary title="1109">vintage</glossary> gives you.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>Do you think people are becoming more receptive of this approach?</strong><br /> <br /> I think it is becoming easier to sell wines solely off the fact that they are full of personality and that they express something more than a low price point.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>What do you like to drink?</strong><br /> <br /> I like lighter, more <glossary title="71">acidic</glossary> white from more Northern climates. I&#39;m a big fan of older wine. I find that a 20 or 30 year old bottle can be moving.</p>

producers visit

<p><em>This visit to La Stoppa took place in November, 2012</em></p> <p><em>Words by Jules Dressner, photos by Jake Halper</em></p> <p>From&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="762">Parma</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> we drove off to <glossary title="862">Rivergaro</glossary> to visit Elena Pantaleoni and Giulio Armani of La Stoppa. For many of you, this <glossary title="427">estate</glossary> needs no introduction, as the wines have been available in the U.S for many years. What I CAN say is that we are extremely happy to be their new national importer (with the exception of Massachusetts and Oregon), and welcome them to the Louis/Dressner family.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> La Stoppa sits atop a hill and consists of a medieval living quarter and <glossary title="254">cellar</glossary> surrounded by 30 <glossary title="523">hectares</glossary> of vines.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_07//4f/1f/4f1fc4a2cf7ba75983e627ed913132cf.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_07//7d/f8/7df84a30860b5b795a4bcf486ebac0ee.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_07//69/53/69530eaac49193a7b685620579337628.jpg" /></p> <p>We started the visit with a lunch/tasting combo. Elena and guest-star&nbsp;<a href="http://louisdressner.com/producers/Occhipinti/" target="_blank">Arianna Occhipinti</a> had just landed THAT DAY from a trip to Montreal (where they work with&nbsp;<a href="http://www.oenopole.ca/">Oenopole</a>), and told us about dancing all night at a Champagne party where Biz Markie was DJing. Because I know you&#39;re not going to believe me (partly because I enjoy keeping the Dressner tradition of making stuff up alive and well), here is proof that it actually happened.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_07//26/5f/265f4fedfebd7435e60283548c57a40c.jpg" /><br /> <br /> What, no&nbsp;<a href="http://louisdressner.com/producers/Boulard/">Boulard</a>?&nbsp;<br /> <br /> At lunch, we tried the current releases of &quot;Ageno&quot;&nbsp;and all the reds, including some back <glossary title="1109">vintages</glossary> of the &quot;Barbera&nbsp;della Stoppa&quot;. The <glossary title="1130">young vine</glossary> <glossary title="874">rosso</glossary> and <glossary title="471">frizzante</glossary> have been renamed &quot;Trebbiolo&quot;&nbsp;this year. The name comes from the vines&#39; proximity to the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1042">Trebbia river</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> and Elena admitted that the last thing she expected was everyone to keep asking her if the wine is a blend of <glossary title="1043">Trebbiano</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="709">Nebbiolo</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> This has apparently been happening A LOT, which could be avoided if people realized:<br /> <br /> 1. La Stoppa is located in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="420">Emilia-Romagna</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> where neither <glossary title="1043">Trebbiano</glossary> or <glossary title="709">Nebbiolo</glossary> is planted.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> 2. How disgusting that <glossary title="">blend</glossary> would be and how no one in their right mind would ever produce it.<br /> <br /> After lunch, it was time to visit some surrounding vineyard sites with Giulio.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_07//a6/7a/a67a3ec5aca6ab03f0ccedc13afbe644.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_07//2e/32/2e32723c0e6adbc5b9d9d48be03a205c.jpg" /><br /> <br /> Almost all of the <glossary title="427">estate&#39;s</glossary> 30 <font color="#7b143e"><strong><glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectares</glossary></strong></font>&nbsp;surround the living quarters and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="254">cellar</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> The vines are planted 75% in <glossary title="138">Barbera</glossary>/<glossary title="175">Bornada</glossary> and 25% in <glossary title="623">Malvasia</glossary> at 200m <glossary term="Elevation" title="419">elevation</glossary>; these are the traditional grapes of this region, but have only been principally grown here since&nbsp;since 1995. You see, the <glossary title="1103">viticultural</glossary> history of the <glossary title="427">estate</glossary> is a bit topsy-turvy...<br /> <br /> Over a hundred years ago, a wealthy lawyer named Ageno owned the property and decided to plant -along with the local <glossary title="138">Barbera</glossary> and <glossary title="175">Bornada</glossary> grapes-, 15 <glossary title="523">hectares</glossary> of &quot;<glossary term="Noble Grapes" title="720">noble</glossary>&quot;&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1071">varietals</glossary><span>:</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="805">Pinot Noir</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="217">Cabernet Sauvignon</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="271">Chardonnay</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="927">Sauvignon Blanc</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="803">Pinot Grigio</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1030">Tokay</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> etc... The idea, of course, was to emulate&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="178">Bordeaux</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary title="212">Burgundy</glossary> and <glossary title="908">Sancerre</glossary> (you can see photos of some of these old <glossary title="573">labels</glossary> on the&nbsp;home page of their official website&nbsp;that are actually <glossary title="185">bottled</glossary> as &quot;<glossary title="178">Bordeaux</glossary>&quot;).<br /> <br /> In 1973, Elena&#39;s father bought the <glossary title="427">estate</glossary> and continued making wine from these grapes. Giulio Armani took over as head <glossary title="1089">vignaiolo</glossary> in 1980 and for 15 years, tried his best to produce quality wines from these grapes: he read every book on <glossary title="1103">viticulture</glossary> and <glossary title="422">oenology</glossary> he could get his hands on and followed <glossary title="">Sancerre</glossary> and <glossary title="178">Bordeaux</glossary> &quot;recipes&quot; to the best of his ability.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> But Giuilo is a smart man and a thinker, and the decade plus of trying to crack the code of his vines finally led to a simple but life-altering realization: you just can&#39;t make <glossary title="212">Burgundy</glossary> or <glossary term="Sancerre" title="908">Sancerre</glossary> in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="420">Emilia-Romagna</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> a very hot region where grapes often end up being high in alcohol and low in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="71">acidity</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> &quot;<em>Every year, I would see the </em><glossary title="805"><em>Pinot Noir</em></glossary><em> and </em><glossary title="271"><em>Chardonnay</em></glossary><em> grapes completely burnt from the sun. They weren&#39;t meant to be here. We understood we had to make a wine of </em><glossary title="1026"><em>terroir</em></glossary><em>.</em>&quot;<br /> <br /> So in 1995, Giulio and Elena decided to return to tradition and replant the local red grapes <glossary title="138">Barbera</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="175">Bornada</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> and well as <glossary title="623">Malvasia</glossary> for white. And lo and behold, this instantly solved their <glossary title="71">acidity</glossary> problem!<br /> <br /> &quot;<em>The secret to making good red wine in this area is </em><glossary title="138"><em>Barbera</em></glossary><em>, which has very high </em><glossary title="71"><em>acidity</em></glossary><em> and thrives in this climate. It is needed to balance the wines.</em>&quot;<br /> <br /> Though the <glossary title="427">estate</glossary> had globally been hands off with <glossary title="1103">viticulture</glossary> and winemaking, there was a period in the 1980&#39;s where Giulio experimented with conventional <glossary title="">viticulture</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="321">selected yeasts</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> The replanting of the region&#39;s traditional grapes, however, also meant re-evaluating the work in the vineyard, and a shift was immediately made to <glossary title="">organic</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1103">viticulture</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> These ideas extended to the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="254">cellar</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> where Giulio started intentionally practicing <glossary title="976">spontaneous fermentations</glossary> and eliminating any rectification/manipulation. Today, the wines being produced by La Stoppa are undoubtedly&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="420">Emilian</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p>And that&#39;s a cool story.</p>

harvest report

<p><em><strong>Words from Nico Sciackitano, October 10th, 2019. All photos by&nbsp;Valentin Hennequin.</strong></em></p> <p>According to Giulio and Elena &lsquo;This year was fantastic. Not huge quantities, but great quality and<strong>&nbsp;<glossary title="71">acidity</glossary></strong>.&rsquo;&nbsp;</p> <p>We had a wonderful team with great energy. Two&nbsp;interns who are visiting winemakers from Chile and two interns who are students at the Slow Food University in Bra&hellip; and the usual suspects.</p> <p>We picked the white fruit &nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span>(<glossary title="623">Malvasia di Candia Aromatica</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="748">Ortrugo</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary title="1043">Trebbiano</glossary>) from September 3rd through September 9th. <glossary title="138">Barbera</glossary> was picked from the 10th of September until the 21rst. The <glossary title="178">Bordeaux</glossary> varieties (think ex-&quot;Stoppa&quot;&nbsp;minus the <glossary title="217">Cabernet Sauvignon</glossary>) from the oldest vineyards were picked on the 21rst of September. And finally the <glossary title="175">Bonarda</glossary> was picked from the 25th through the 27th of September.</p> <p>We were able to produce a new vintage of &quot;Vigna del Volta&quot;&nbsp;as well (see pic with drying fruit and vid of Elena and I covering the fruit for the night).</p> <p>We had quite a bit of rain this year and a overall cooler year in general which lead to a slower <glossary title="639">maturation</glossary> and a longer harvest period. This was a good thing. (April - 30mm, May - 176.5mm, June&nbsp;- 5mm, July&nbsp;- 128mm)</p> <p>We are very happy with this year.</p> <p>The vegetable garden was incredibly productive this year. I don&rsquo;t want to see another tomato or zucchini for at least a few months.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//88/3d/883dfdfaff852ed33c56bbfc71cc50ca.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//ae/67/ae67e51e7ac274baaea0ab52c4c6b245.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//41/6e/416e1820816e2a944470643d5a6d6eae.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//24/b9/24b9f27fd117f65a86fdd53187e9144f.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//e6/d4/e6d4234194803fc7b4f737759e9fdb50.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//94/b7/94b78dc1b2f09975f1ba47180d3b2a6c.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//b6/c6/b6c6da70f3d8d1d47beb4250777053bb.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//1b/7d/1b7d83e407f6c862e6e0677246f117ed.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//59/bb/59bb7edcb916e51ba595a5eb87bf1e83.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//3a/2e/3a2ec13952d3a04c1c72e72a9ecb2973.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//a8/7e/a87eede851f8d65221ce053fb53ab4b5.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//41/54/41543930048ad99d1a35ab51952b4e75.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//67/e1/67e15b7e55df8912651d301d62becc75.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//41/54/41543930048ad99d1a35ab51952b4e75.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//bd/be/bdbe3e12bbf6c01b5e580e228ffb5cda.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//55/5c/555c83965ec1dbd8ee09d4939130cd35.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//18/84/18840f5912855657fa24a78e1a8bbb99.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//64/4e/644eef49ff7c6c2f34d480aea0fc7194.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//53/46/5346968dff79f83c3085954f941b1c2b.jpg" /></p>