Now that it’s after Labor Day, you’ve likely put away your white pants and curtailed or all but concluded your rosé consumption for the year. That, my friends, is a mistake, and not just because rosé Champagne is just now entering its optimal drinking season.
Everything about today’s Alpine rosé from Northern Italy screams autumn: Made from the Nebbiolo grape, it’s full of scents and flavors I associate with the season, from fallen leaves to cranberries to warm brown spices. It’s an intricately layered rosé with great depth and a firm backbone for food, and it comes to us from one of the most extreme wine places on earth—the Valtellina region of northern Lombardy, which runs along Italy’s border with Switzerland. As grown on Valtellina’s steep, terraced slopes, Nebbiolo takes on an almost waiflike air, and yet, whether it’s red or pink, it persists on the palate in a way that would seem impossible at first glance. This isn’t merely a refresher; it’s a memorable glass of wine that defies categorization. Do you like the great rosés of Bandol like Tempier and Terrebrune? We feel this is some of the best pink wine we’ve tasted from anywhere, and the price makes it one of the best deals all year. Feel free to stock up now because “Monrose” will be firing on all cylinders for the next year and beyond!
In previous offers of this wine, I’ve likened it to great examples of Pinot Noir rosé from Sancerre: pink wines that don’t really hit their stride until their “second spring.” As a restaurant wine buyer, I was always conditioned to think of rosé as a wine that effectively came and went between June and September, or thereabouts. Today’s wine is indeed from the most recent vintage possible, and is delicious right now, but I’m confident it’ll also be delicious next summer, too. A lot of rosés are not built for this, which is fine; this one isn’t heavy in any way but it has a rigid spine thanks to the high natural acidity and tannin of Nebbiolo. And the aromas are off the charts!
The Valtellina region is about two hours north of Milan, and arriving there is half the fun: you drive the length of Lake Como, after which you’re deposited into the Adda River Valley, walled in on either side by mountains. The most unique feature of the valley, which is centered on the sleepy city of Sondrio, is that the Adda runs along an almost perfect East-to-West path. Because the valley is so deeply carved, all the Valtellina’s vineyards are planted in silty, sandy soils on the north bank of the river, enabling them to take all-day sun in a climate that might otherwise be too cool to ripen grapes—especially the late-ripening Nebbiolo. It is an amazing sight to look up from the valley floor to the vineyards above, many of their stone terraces emblazoned with the names of some of the region’s big wine names (à la Côte-Rôtie in the Rhône). These terraces were thought to have been built by the same Ligurians who terraced the Cinque Terre, and without these terraces, viticulture would be impossible—even with them, there’ still the occasional mudslide, and it goes without saying that mechanized vineyard work is impossible.
Mamete Prevostini, grandfather (and namesake) of the winery’s current proprietor, had a restaurant in the Valtellina town of Sondrio; he made wines for the restaurant from his vineyards nearby, and eventually it grew into a commercial winery. Since 1995, Mamete Prevostini the grandson has run the estate and recently completed construction of a new cellar. He makes an entry-level red, “Botonero,” that is one of the great introductions to Nebbiolo as grown in the Valtellina—i.e., brightly perfumed and ethereal compared to the wines of Barolo/Barbaresco—and the “Monrose” rosé is similarly evocative: I love Nebbiolo rosé wherever it is made, because it leans savory more so than sweet—and even shows a hint of Nebbiolo’s notorious tannin even after spending just eight hours macerating on its skins during fermentation.
This 2017 is without a doubt our favorite rendering of “Monrose” to date, with depth and perfume to spare! In the glass, it’s a pale salmon pink with coppery highlights, its aromas highly perfumed and penetrating: just ripened strawberry, red apple, pomegranate, blood orange peel, rose petal, dried herbs, and crushed rocks all carry over to a tense, medium-bodied palate with a very fine structure with concentrated flavors that seem to go on and on. This wine is delicious on its own, but really meant to be served with food. Serve this rosé alongside the attached watermelon, feta and mint salad as a first course that will blow away your next dinner guests. Serve it at 45-50 degrees in all-purpose white wine stems and don’t be shocked at how fast the bottle disappears, so have some more ready in the refrigerator. This is mouthwatering stuff that will deliver whenever you choose to open it. Enjoy!
