2002 AR.PE.PE. Valtellina Superiore - Sassella Riserva Rocce Rosse

Community Tasting Notes (46) Avg Score: 91.5 points

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  2/25/2024 - 831900_ Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Fragrant, spicy, lightweight, and wonderfully lifted with mint and herb. The primary fruit flavors have receded significantly, replaced with slightly emerging leather and earth. The AR.PE.PE. mint and dusty, wet gravel qualities are pronounced, and delicious. A quieter, less thrill-inducing ride than the 2013 Grimello Reserva, but no less good.

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  11/22/2023 - trumpet60201 Likes this wine: 93 Points

  2nd of 2 bottles (1st one consumed in July 2022). Both showed beautifully and authentic. 13% abv per the bottle. Perfect cork on both bottles. Haunting and unique nose. Tannins have mostly resolved and what's left does not dry the palate at all. Baked cherries and strawberries and nice sweetness on the palate, on the nose sweet pipe tobacco, anise, spearmint. Elegant and lengthy finish. I think it's in the perfect spot to drink up now.

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  6/9/2023 - ekorn wrote: flawed

  Corked.

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  3/22/2023 - forceberry wrote: 94 Points

  100% Nebbiolo harvested on October 30th, 2002 from the old (average vineyard age is 50 years) 4-hectare Rocce Rosse vineyard - named after the red rocks in the soil - found in the rocky Valtellina subzone of Sassella. Following a few days of cold-soak, the wine is fermented spontaneously and macerated with the skins for 35 days in old 5000-liter casks made of oak, acacia and chestnut. Typically aged for 4 years in old, untoasted 5500-liter botti casks made of oak, acacia and chestnut and a year in concrete tanks. Made only in exceptional vintages - in other vintages the fruit gets declassified to the 2nd wine or Valtellina Superiore. Total production 18000 bottles, 500 magnums and 200 double magnums. 13% alcohol. Double-decanted approximately 2½ hours prior to tasting the wine.
  
  Luminous, quite pale and surprisingly youthful ruby-red color with a slightly evolved brick-red rim. The nose feels sweet-toned, fragrant and quite expressive with layered aromas of ripe black cherries and cherry pits, some blueberry and raspberry tones, a little bit of loose tobacco, light meaty nuances, a hint of baked beet root, a fragrant touch of dried flowers and an autumnal whiff of damp leaves and forest floor. The wine feels firm yet silky, harmonious and quite ethereal on the palate with a light-to-medium body and vibrant, almost bone-dry flavors of crunchy crowberries and tart lingonberries, pouch tobacco, some wizened sour cherry tones, a little bit of dried red fruits, light sanguine notes of iron, a hint of old leather and a touch of earth. The wine is noticeably high in acidity with rather ample and quite grippy yet not aggressive tannins. The finish is dry, savory and moderately grippy with a long, crunchy aftertaste of lingonberries and sour cherry bitterness, some tart red plums, a little bit of old leather, light earthy tones, a hint of pouch tobacco and a touch of tar.
  
  A beautiful, very harmonious and remarkably youthful single-vineyard Valtellina with haunting aromatics and impressive sense of structure. Curiously, this wine seemed as youthful and backward as the 2005 and 2009 vintages we tasted at the same time, showing even more tannic structure, yet at the same time coming across as somewhat less lean and austere in overall character. Truly a conundrum. Even if the wine doesn't really show much age and the tannins haven't resolved that much, this vintage seemed to be somewhat closer to its drinking window than the 2005 and 2009 vintages. However, based on its youthful overall character and still remarkably tightly-knit structure, this wine is still years - maybe even decades - away from its apogee. All in all, here we have truly a fine vintage of Rocce Rosse that is easily among the best wines of Valtellina. Very highly recommended.

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  2/5/2023 - stanqwash Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Intoxicating perfume of berries and flowers. Light, velvety, and mysterious. Seemed to tighten up a bit after an hour, oddly. Still a complete joy. Glad I have another.

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