Region of Production: Castello District (Lessona, Alto Piemonte)
Address: Via Orolungo, 38, 1385 Lessona (BI)
Phone: (+39) 015.99.408
Email: info@proprietasperino.it
Summary
Year Established: 17-- / 1999 (first established in the early 19th century but no production between 1960s-1999)
The estate was founded by Casimiro Sperino in 18--. He was the director of the Medical School at the University of Turin and founded Italy’s National Academy of the Sciences 16 (“medico e senatore del Regno d’Italia” 3). During his lifetime, Casimiro devoted himself to the family vineyards in Lessona, and his son Felice Sperino continued his work (did they produce for just private consumption?). Felice was instrumental in the research and science behind the fight against phylloxera in the 19th and 20th centuries, producing one of the first studies on the use of American Rootstocks in Italy (16).
Casimiro and Felice Sperino were ahead of their time in regards to viticulture and oenology. Before ampelography had been developed, Felice Sperino was publishing extensive works on the grapevines of Europe, many of which are extinct today. In terms of vinification, they utilized gravity-fed systems to move the wine and as early as the 1860s, were employing sorting tables for berry selection (a practice that did not become widespread in Europe until the ----s).
The Sperinos stopped production in the 1960s, and without direct heirs, the property went to their collateral relatives, the de Marchi family of Tuscan winemaking fame (3).
Paolo de Marchi, of the Isole e Olena winery in Chianti, and his son Luca, returned to their family estate in the Castello district of Lessona in 1999. At the time, there were only 2.5 hectares of vineyards in production and Tenuta Sella was the sole producer. The de Marchi family’s first vintage of production was 2004, released in 2006.
Luca developed his passion for Lessona while studying philology at the University of Turin. He would escape to Lessona during his free time where he would spend days reading through the archives in the castle’s historic library.
When Paolo and Luca decided to resume production, their goal was to restore the oenological heritage of Lessona and to revive the historic vineyards and cellars. Their dream was to create a wine that transparently spoke of this unique terroir with respect to a multi-century-long tradition.
“Our goal was to keep the winery as it was when it was in use in the 18th and 19th centuries. We wanted to understand what they were doing when this was a great wine region” - Luca de Marchi
Principal Vineyard Holdings:
8 hectares (including 6 ha in Lessona and 2 ha in Bramaterra)
Lessona Vineyards:
Belvedere (--ha in the ---- District)
Cova’ (--ha in the Castello District)
Ormeggio (--ha in the Orolungo District)
Castagnola (--ha in the Orolungo District)
Rava (--ha in the ---- District)
Monfalcone (--ha in the ---- District)
Bramaterra Vineyards:
Madonna degli Angeli (Forte); 2 ha
Style & Vinification Techniques:
While most producers of Alto Piemonte were looking to the Langhe for inspiration in the 1990s and early 2000s, Paolo and Luca wanted to take a different approach. Lessona is a unique area for Nebbiolo, and they wanted to treat it as such.
“We didn’t want to mimic what was being done in the Langhe at the time. That would have been a big mistake because their Nebbiolo is very different from ours.” - Luca de Marchi
The goal of vinification is to showcase the elegance and perfume of Nebbiolo grown on Lessona’s sandy soils. This means cool, slow fermentations, gentle extraction of tannin and fruit, and aging in neutral barrel.
Harvest: grapes are hand-picked into (---kg) bins
Selection of berries both in the vineyard and before press on sorting table
Destemed and gently pressed
Fermentation:
Fermentation with both selected and native yeasts (pied de cuve)
Open-top wood fermentors (tini) provide a long, cool fermentation (18-20*C)
Daily punch down and pumpovers
Length of maceration (time on skins): 21-35 days (17 / 22)
Elevage:
Lessona DOC: 15hl cask for 32 months (22)
Uvaggio: --------
Bottling:
Facts & Figures
Average Total Production:
Planting Density: 5,000 vines / ha (22)
Altitude: 290-350 mslm
Soil: marine san
Producer Website:
Importer Website: https://www.giulianaimports.com/
You can read more about the Lessona DOC here.
“I don't produce wine, I make Nebbiolo.”- Luca de Marchi
Comments