il Pettirosso
Appellation: Valtellina Superiore DOCG
Type: Dry, red
Grape variety: 100% Nebbiolo (Chiavennasca)
Il pettirosso (the European robin – Erithacus rubecula) can be found everywhere in the woods that now look down on the Valtellina. Robins rarely enter the cellar, but one day one did get in and alighted on one of the older wooden barrels. A few days later, while she was tasting the wine from that barrel, Isabella noticed there was a slight leak from one of the acacia staves.
The wine appeared to be ready for bottling, but the barrel unfortunately needed replacing. There wasn’t enough wine in that barrel to warrant a whole new label so she and Emanuele chose a few of the most “mature’ barrels of that ’97 and thus Il Pettirosso was born. Arturo had designed the winery’s first labels and so, to continue the family tradition, Isabella asked her husband Enrico to do it, in view of the success of his first design: il Rosso di Valtellina.
On special evenings, il Pettirosso comes to dinner on the terraces above Sondrio, puffing out his nebbiolo-red breast and chirping merrily. In special vintages ArPePe makes his namesake Valtellina Superiore. This wine is a unique expression of the DOCG.
