producers visit

<p><strong><em>This visit with Antonio Perrino at Testalonga took place in November, 2012.</em></strong></p> <p><strong><em>Words by Jules Dressner, photos by Josefa Concannon and Jules Dressner.</em></strong></p> <p>Over the course of our long drive from<font color="#7b143e"><strong>&nbsp;<glossary term="Piemonte" title="793">Piemonte</glossary></strong></font>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="595">Liguria</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> Lee, Tom and I listened to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5vw4ajnWGA" target="_blank">Mos Def</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcxsheROd3E" target="_blank">DJ Shadow</a>,&nbsp;Robag Wruhme,&nbsp;Outkast&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92gHq1s6G-c" target="_blank">TLC</a>. I&#39;m not sure what was playing in Kevin, Denyse and Josefa&#39;s car, but based on their musical tastes I would guess it was an eclectic mix of Radiohead, Serge Gainsbourg and REM.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> After all that driving and music, we were ready to taste some&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="873">Rossese di Dolceacqua</glossary><span>!</span></span></span> If you&#39;re unfamiliar with the <glossary title="873">Rossese</glossary> grape, don&#39;t worry because you are not alone. Grown by an ever decreasing amount of growers in and around&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="397">Dolceacqua</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> it got my official vote for&nbsp;<em>&quot;most exciting Italian grape I&#39;d never heard of&quot;</em>&nbsp;of 2012. And I must of discovered at least 214 of them last year! The wines are light in body but <glossary title="324">concentrated</glossary> in fruit and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="662">minerality</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> They also have this lasting tobacco&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="450">finish</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> which I almost didn&#39;t want to write because of how cliched of a tasting note that is. But it&#39;s true, okay!&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Our first stop was a visit to the enigmatic and legendary Antonio Perrino of&nbsp;<a href="http://louisdressner.com/producers/Testalonga/" target="_blank">Testalonga</a>. We had a little bit of time to kill, so naturally we took a stroll about town.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_23//66/0b/660bcebebebe8b1b32f96c588c439ddb.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_23//cc/a5/cca573ca49e0e46b2f20f7e7147f64ae.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_23//79/61/79616e57eeca7b4c34e211f9fcec9479.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_23//24/5e/245eec6d78a5c40e13774099116e0962.jpg" /></p> <p>This unassuming little side street holds Antonio Perrino&#39;s&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="254">cellar</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_23//e2/c5/e2c5485acd64de5646fbf7bccc5cd919.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_23//6d/1c/6d1c001b4b46714de44d96690c4819df.jpg" /></p> <p>In the last few months, I&#39;d seen a lot of tiny <glossary title="254">cellars</glossary> (<a href="http://louisdressner.com/date/2012/11/23/175/?as=summer+log" target="_blank">Z&eacute;lige-Caravent</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://louisdressner.com/date/2012/11/30/177/?as=laurent+barth" target="_blank">Laurent Barth</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://louisdressner.com/date/2012/10/9/163/">Bruno Duch&ecirc;ne</a>), but this one might just take the cake.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_23//71/c6/71c66a2f4ccdf62da68cb742f8d0aae1.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_23//06/68/066836737d31e0643dfb5cdb2c7be13a.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_23//50/8b/508b9e3b931310d435a1818409d10b0c.jpg" /></p> <p>Seven&nbsp;<glossary title="142">barrels</glossary> represents Antonio&#39;s&nbsp;TOTAL&nbsp;production! I found it rather humbling that a producer who consistently makes top 100 lists and has such a larger than life reputation could make fine wine in such a small, simple place. Then again, Antonio proved to be an extremely friendly, amiable guy and a gracious host. Also important to note, the quantities reflect the fact that Antonio owns less than an <glossary title="523">hectare</glossary> of vines; as we&#39;d find out later, the working conditions of <glossary title="">Dolceacqua</glossary> <glossary title="1022">terraced</glossary> vineyards are some of the most challenging in Europe, and owning more land would be quasi-impossible to manage, especially since Antonio is 66 and still does everything by himself!<br /> <br /> 2011 was Antonio&#39;s 50th&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1109">vintage</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> and every bottle will be adorned with a 50th anniversary sticker. The <glossary title="873">Rossese</glossary> was showing well, a little fuller bodied and darker than I was expecting, but it&#39;s possible that it needed time to settle in bottle. Antonio also makes a small quantity of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1081">Vermentino</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> and the 2011 was my favorite wine of the trip. Saying it had saline qualities wouldn&#39;t do it justice: it was salty to the point of being savory, and so different than the 2005 we&#39;d drank at Tabarro just a few days earlier. Incredible.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> We also got to try a 1978&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="873">Rossese</glossary><span>:</span></span></span></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_23//d9/ec/d9ec306b04de144f5cc93a0344edf63f.jpg" /></p> <p>It looked and smelled like an old wine, with an orangish color and elegant&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="723">nose</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> The fruit was still there, though on the back of the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Palate" title="756">palate</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> and I found the tobacco <glossary title="">finish</glossary> to be particularly pronounced.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Here&#39;s a funny picture of a cat on a car that has absolutely nothing to do with the visit.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_23//38/85/388595564b85228bae43b37fd7cd73ac.jpg" /></p> <p>After tasting, we went to eat lunch at this great place called&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ristoranteaviassa.it/index.php" target="notSet">A Viassa</a>. This was our first meal of the trip eating primarily seafood and a culinary highlight of the trip for everyone. Highly recommended. Just like any other normal lunch, it was accompanied by a <glossary term="Jeroboam" title="557">jeroboam</glossary>&nbsp;of 2007&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="873">Rossese</glossary><span>:</span></span></span></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_23//71/cb/71cb698f3d2a2fbb4e608a58b3ad0e6f.jpg" /></p> <p>During lunch, Antonio filled us in on some key Testalonga factoids. The oldest vines are about 100, but most are around 30 to 40 years old. The main vineyard site is called is called&nbsp;<em>Arcagna</em>, and the <glossary title="873">Rossese</glossary> used to be labelled as such (you can see this on the <glossary title="557">jero</glossary> picture above). Recently however, he changed it since a tiny bit of the final <glossary title="168">blend</glossary> comes from other sites. As far as the indigenous grape Antonio has worked with his entire life:<br /> <br /> <em>&quot;</em><glossary title="873"><em>Rossese</em></glossary><em> is disappearing. It&#39;s hard to work, and people want to plant higher </em><glossary title="1129"><em>yielding</em></glossary><em> varieties they can sell.&quot;</em><br /> <br /> The great sites, which are all on steep, borderline hazardous&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1022">terraces</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> are all getting ripped up. And in the rare cases when growers decide to replant <glossary title="873">Rossese</glossary> instead of <glossary title="217">Cabernet Sauvignon</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="650">Merlot</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> it is getting planted in shittier but easy to work sites.<br /> <br /> I was very disappointed that Antonio didn&#39;t have time to show us the vines, which are about a 30 minute drive from&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="397">Dolceacqua</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> He did however, have time to show us his friend&#39;s olive oil facility. On our way there, I spotted a horse just hanging out in a back alley.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_23//c1/d7/c1d7a75b7ac4d84ac7fec80eca2f944e.jpg" /></p> <p>I had never seen how olive oil is actually produced, and it was very entertaining experience.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_23//74/be/74be85d8d10d8bedcfdb871344049a12.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_23//61/35/61355d205a843094fe2bfc3b97893243.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_23//a4/7f/a47ff2cfe52eec950d9a7b7060fa2c58.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_23//ea/03/ea03280f99343c3c9d3f993cfecaab76.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_23//8e/1a/8e1aec08e48efbd2d2b7d850e8701164.jpg" /></p>

harvest report

<p><strong>November 14th, 2023:</strong></p> <p>We know that in a great part of Italy, the 2023 <glossary term="Vintage" title="1109">vintage</glossary> will be difficult to forget because of the <glossary term="Frost" title="1135">frost</glossary> and fungal illness that destroyed so many&nbsp;crops. In&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Dolceacqua" title="397">Dolceacqua</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> we have been very lucky.</p> <p>It has been a difficult year for us too, as we were coming from two years of <glossary term="Drought" title="1167">drought</glossary> and heat like never before. Finally, after an autumn and a winter with no rain that &nbsp;left us once again hopeless, we did finally see some precipitation&nbsp;in May and June. This is not the best best moment for rain, as the grapes are in a very sensitive phase and <glossary term="Oidium" title="737">odium</glossary> and <glossary term="Mildew" title="1137">mildew</glossary> can rear their heads very easily.&nbsp;</p> <p>Since we are so small and do all our treatments on foot with&nbsp;backpacks, we could <glossary term="Contact Treatment" title="328">treat</glossary> the vines immediately to avoid dangerous infections. In the end we did lose a bit of the crop to&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Mildew" title="1137">mildew</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> but nothing too important.&nbsp;</p> <p>We started <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary> very early , on 22nd of August with old red vines, as a period of extraordinary heat ( 32&deg;C at night and 39&deg;C in the day!!) started to put the plants in a status of stress.. We finished <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary> on the 15th of September. All the <glossary term="Barrel" title="142">barrels</glossary> of both red and white are full and we are now very happy about the <glossary term="Fermentation" title="441">fermentation</glossary> and the results. Now we only have to let the time doing it&rsquo;s magic 😊</p> <p>Attached are some pictures.</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//986/bc/c7/bcc72d3b94c711a6cf40b2b02c35ec05.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//986/cb/db/cbdb42112435755e46f15c60d1bd74ac.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//986/c0/37/c03782e82d9a4fde32db2acfb2927d85.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//986/75/34/75345121e3d26f8355b3fb9c57f1e697.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//986/0b/d6/0bd6d108810a35820a93f6c708c1aa7b.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//986/41/10/411083261cd15a3f4c061e494cf75706.jpg" /></p>

harvest report

<p><em><strong>Words by Erica Perrino, October 5th, 2019.</strong></em></p> <p>Our <glossary title="521">harvest</glossary> ended yesterday and began on September 5th. So a month in total.</p> <p>In the end this was a&nbsp;simple growing season for us:&nbsp;we had the right rains and luckily the plants were not affected by the abnormal cold we had in May, even if this slightly affected the quantities.</p> <p>We were very lucky because the extremely hot weather and <glossary title="">hail</glossary> that hit several areas of Europe did not pass through&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="">Dolceacqua</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> We have collected some beautiful, super healthy grapes despite&nbsp;another&nbsp;<glossary title="1109">vintage</glossary> with&nbsp;a small attack of <glossary title="1385">drosophila</glossary> that did not&nbsp;ruin&nbsp;the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="521">harvest</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p>Now the <glossary title="142">barrels</glossary> are full, we are <glossary title="381">decanting</glossary> and we are really happy with the result: already now the wine is doing very well. We hope to continue like this. I send you some photos and we are always waiting for you with open arms.</p> <p>Erica and Nino,</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//54/dd/54dd8fd9fddcf3a697d8385c39857db8.jpeg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//4f/0c/4f0cd2f5421da595d2e6fbc9b15ce3f2.jpeg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//71/f0/71f03885030ee9adbf5bfdce86c544d1.jpeg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//2e/57/2e57f5fc0031c195904fa3aa0e6beb4e.jpeg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//d7/8b/d78bbddeca052e66dcbb0cc8c713fd66.jpeg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Apr_28//24/a7/24a70d0eca6cd96030b4dc83047b2b4b.jpeg" /></p>