Il Sasso Pertinello 2015: an ambitious and elegant organic red wine
Sasso Pertinello 2015 is a structured and silky red wine with a rocky soul but a tender heart.
It looks like an advertisement for ice cream, but it’s not ice cream but a wine that makes no compromises and focuses on the splendor of Sangiovese and its innate elegance.
Don’t expect a bomb of muscles and tannins; no, this sybaritic wine won’t smooth your palate, and it won’t even satisfy you with vulgar jammy fruit.
But it will seduce you, and how will it do so?
How it is produced
It is a Riserva produced only in the best vintages from grapes from the Pertinello vineyard, which extends around the estate, on the splendid hills of Galeata, in the Valbidente.
Organic management, low yields, and vineyards exposed and cooled by the wind.
The altitude is not indifferent for a Romagna vineyard and helps to keep the temperature range clear. Spontaneous fermentation and aging in large wood for 18 months
Organoleptic characteristics
Ruby red in color. The bouquet is enveloping and wild, warm and fleshy, but with in the background that primordial appeal that only the great Sangioveses have.
It is a whirlwind of forest scents: pine, Mediterranean scrub, and balsamic traces of olives and oregano.
The fruit is warm and sinuous, ripe, but never expires in jam as an end in itself. As a side dish, sweet spices and earthy tones of great depth are perceived.
The palate is an extension of the nose.
Soft and languid, but with a rocky soul, it has smooth tannins, however lively and powerful, which, when opened, leave flavors of licorice, rhubarb, and cinchona on the palate.
It caresses you with good softness but still has a biting acidity. It tickles you with sapidity but does not break down and is already starting to show depth and evolution. It is certainly a ready and satisfying wine, but it is still far from having great potential.
All of this extract is ripening, changing, and getting better. The fruit is bold and launches into a soft spiral, but the thickness of the hard parts is there to remind you that this is not a tamed and finished wine.
It has a long way to go, and it’s a good thing that it’s like this; it’s not the classic, carefree little wine as an aperitif. At the moment it is good, but aim high: give it another 4-5 years and it will start to show its true potential.
Price
26 euros.
Pairings
Chicken curry, spare ribs with barbecue sauce, pulled pork, burgers, roast beef.