Fratelli Triacca Sassella DOCG 2018 0.75 L

DESCRIPTION:

Wine tasting: Ruby red tending to garnet; the bouquet has hints of raspberry, small fruits, violets and even dog rose petals; dry, velvety and robust, with the odd hint of hazelnut, leading to a liquorice and dried prune finish. 

Alcohol: 13% vol

Grapes: 100% Nebbiolo

Aging: 12 months in oak casks

Soil: Sandy, loamy soil, less vegetable mould and pretty water permeable.

Pairings: Its vitality makes it ideal for elaborate red meats with simple cooking, carvery and roasting, but also enhances pork. It goes very well also with medium-aged cheese.

Sassella:The remarkable Sassella area is particularly steep, wind-swept and sun-drenched. Small patches are cultivated with vines, despite the rocky terrain. As you wander along the terraces, you really feel this is a special, enchanting, almost magical place. The name literally means “small stone”. The rocks soak up the sun’s warmth during the day and slowly release it again after dusk to the benefit of the grapes: the result is a rich, full-bodied wine. The bouquet has hints of raspberry, small fruits, violets and even dog rose petals. The taste is dry, velvety and robust, with the odd hint of hazelnut, leading to a licorice and dried prune finish.

TRADITION AND INNOVATION

Founded in 1897, the Triacca Winery has been an independent family-run company for four generations. Its history is made up of men and women who work with passion to guarantee the quality of wines branded 'Triacca'.
"All our wines come from the vineyards we owned. We carefully follow all phases of production: from the plant to aging, from pruning to harvesting, up to bottling our wines. A guarantee from 1897."
Today, the management of the company is in the hands of the brothers Giovanni and Luca, exponents of the fourth generation. Luca is a winemaker and head of wine production. Giovanni runs the parent company and follows the important Swiss market. Alongside him there is always the loyal Uncle Rino, the 'old guard' who still welcomes visitors to La Gatta with his well-known amiability and passion.
In the 1970s, the winery began to improve the quality of its grapes.
For this purpose, a rigorous selection of Nebbiolo vines is studied, in order to obtain high values of glycerin and extracts, rich and harmoniously integrated tannins, as well as more intense red color. The rows, planted with the new selected vines, now count 7,500 strains per hectare - more than before, but with less grapes per plant. The result is a better quality but a lower yield.
The grapes are processed in state-of-the-art cellars in the area of winemaking technique. Much of the wood has been replaced by stainless steel. Temperature control is an integral part of the processing. For the aging and evolution of our best wines we use new wood in the form of carats (barrels) of 225 and 500 liters.

THE MANUFACTURER'S HISTORY

Toward the end of the 19th century, Domenico Triacca traded in wine between Valtellina and Valposchiavo (Grigioni, Switzerland), but he was an ambitious man and wanted to produce his own noble nectar independently, from his own grapes. In 1897, he bought 2000 square metres of vine-covered terrain in the Valgella area in Valtellina, Lombardy. This was the pivotal moment when what would become one of the most important wineries in Valtellina was created. Sadly, Domenico Triacca died in 1910 in an accident while transporting wine along Lake Poschiavo. The reins of this infant enterprise were passed to his widow, Orsola, and subsequently to the most diligent of his five children, Eugenio: farsighted, scrupulous, determined and highly successful.

In the Fifties, our market extended all the way into the Engadine region, selling cask wine from wooden barrels. After the Second World War, the switch to bottles was made for the sake of quality, easier storage and to conform to consumer taste. A bottling plant was built, too, at Zalende in Switzerland, south of Poschiavo, for the Swiss operation. By acquiring a storage facility at Coira, it was possible to conquer and nurture the vital market of northern Graubünden, dominated until then by local merchants. As a result of this success, the company could invest profits in new vineyards. By this time the family already owned about 28 ha. In the Sixties, the third generation took over: Gino (a skillful salesman), Domenico (an ambitious technician), and Rino (a scrupulous manager). At their side, the ever reliable Uncle Eugenio with his experience and charisma.

The Triacca winery reached a historic milestone in 1969. The idea of diversifying had been mulled over for a long while and, as a result of acquiring the glorious Madonnina estate in the Chianti Classico appellation, right in the heart of Tuscany, this was achieved. In the same year, the pearl of viticulture in the Valtellina region, Lombardy, La Gatta at Bianzone, a former Dominican monastery, with its vineyard of 13 ha, was acquired from the Mascioni winery in its entirety when they unexpectedly put it up for sale.
During the Nineties, further expansion in the south of Tuscany took place with the acquisition of the Santavenere estate at Montepulciano and the fourth generation became involved: Giovanni, responsible for the Swiss market, and Luca, technical director for all three regions of production.