Chiaror sul Masso | I Carpini

DENOMINATION: Colli Tortonesi Bianco DOC
TYPE: white
GRAPE: timorasso 100%
REGION OF ORIGIN: Italy, Piedmont
AGEING POTENTIAL: 3 years
SERVING TEMPERATURE: 6-8° C
GLASS: medium-sized white wine glass
ALCOHOL: 14% vol.
FORMAT: 75 cl

THE WINE

TECHNICAL SPECIFICS

FRESHNESS: ◼︎◼︎◼︎◼︎◻︎
BODY: ◼︎◼︎◼︎◻︎◻︎
SAPIDITY: ◼︎◼︎◼︎◻︎◻︎
SOFTNESS: ◼︎◼︎◼︎◻︎◻︎

NOTES BY OUR SOMMELIERS

👁 An intense straw yellow, brilliant, with lively perlage and a very fine, persistent grain; 

 👃🏻 a strong yeasty scent emerges on the nose, also important is the fruity note of pome fruit and melon, pleasant are the floral notes 

 👄in the mouth it is well structured, savoury, slightly soft, balanced and with a long aromatic persistence.

FOOD PAIRINGS

A sparkling wine with a great alcohol structure, freshness and softness. For these reasons it goes well with first courses endowed with aromaticity and freshness of flavour, as well as with main courses endowed with high taste-olfactory persistence. It is perfectly suited to hors d'oeuvres, vegetable and fish-based first courses, crustaceans with an intense aroma, young cheeses, white meats and egg dishes, as well as salted anchovies and butter, vitello tonnato. For a vegan pairing, try it with fettuccine with fried julienne vegetables or vegetable-based first courses, hazelnut cake.

WINE-MAKING AND REFINEMENT

Chiaror sul Masso is a sparkling wine made from indigenous timorasso grapes, planted on soil rich in stones and boulders of white limestone in a vineyard named after Paolo's sister, Maddalena. The composition of the soil, its particular exposure to the sea winds and sun, allow the grapes to be harvested when perfectly ripe, grapes that are able to carry the properties of the vine intact to obtain a sparkling white wine respectful of the precious varietal characteristics. Manual harvesting in boxes with selection of the bunches; maceration on the skins for 1 day, spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts. Maturation for 12 months on the noble lees in steel tanks. Maturation in autoclave for 8-10 months. 1200 bottles produced, according to the Charmat method.



YOU WILL LOVE IT FOR...

its character.

ORIGIN

TERROIR

We are in the Tortonese hills area: a succession of cultivated fields, vineyards and orchards that represents a natural continuation of the Po Valley up to the complex mountain chain of Lower Piedmont, where the Alps give way to the Apennines.

Many white grape varieties make up the Tortona hills area: cortese, favorita, müller-thurgau, pinot bianco, pinot grigio, riesling Italico, riesling renano, barbera bianca, chardonnay, sauvignon, sylvaner verde and timorasso. Timorasso, in particular, is a very rare - and excellent - Piedmontese variety, a native of the province of Alessandria saved from extinction by Walter Massa himself, from which aromatic and drinkable wines are obtained, also used in the distillation of grappa. Its production is limited, but of very high quality. The wine made from Timorasso grapes (called Derthona, after the ancient name of the area) is a real gem, highly appreciated by wine experts.

WINERY

In the south-east of Piedmont, south of the Gavi region, lie Tortona and the Colli Tortonesi. These hills are the cradle of one of Italy's most fascinating native grape varieties: timorasso. It is a grape that possesses the gift, like few others, of developing types of aromas and flavours of incredible complexity as the years go by. Paolo Carlo Ghislandi, head and oenologist of the company I Carpini, is the man who gave life to the Cascina di Pozzol Groppo as it is today. Purchased in the late 1990s, Paolo Carlo spent months studying, really listening, before designing the vineyards and cellar. The soil and climate characteristics of the Cascina are excellent, but for wine production this was not enough: it was necessary to devise a production system as close as possible to the ideal conditions for ripening the grapes and transforming them into wine. And so it was. Paolo Carlo sees winemaking as a combination of art and nature and refers to his products as art wines. It is no wonder that he works according to the dictates of organic viticulture, often following even more natural practices coupled with the use of indigenous yeasts, low yields per hectare, few added sulphites and carefully controlled fermentations.

The wines of I Carpini come to life in the glass, they are multifaceted, never banal, produced with universally known grapes such as barbera or semi-unknown ones such as albarossa. And of course timorasso, the pivot around which the rebirth of the entire territory revolves, thanks to the intuitions of winemakers like Paolo Carlo. A 'squeezing of territory' where it is only the peculiarity of the vintage that gives the stamp and uniqueness of each bottle. The wines of I Carpini take you by the hand and you have to surrender to their perfume and flavour. Paolo Carlo often says: 'it is the wine that decides when it is ready, let it be and wait for it without haste'.

A natural approach, such as holistic, towards the element of wine, in its broadest and most territorial meaning possible.