2021 Testalonga Rossese di Dolceacqua - Vigneti d'Arcagna

Liguria is best known for white wines, often from vertiginous, terraced vineyards perched above the sea. But there’s some red wine, too, and Rossese di Dolceacqua, in far western Liguria, is the most interesting and best appellation for it. Rossese is an indigenous variety that straddles Italy’s border with France (where it’s called Tibouren). Dolceacqua is a lovely village with a Medieval stone bridge, hilltop castle, and good restaurants. Before phylloxera swept through this area in the late 1800s, there were 3000 hectares of vineyards. Now there are less than 100 hectares and just 17 producers of Rossese di Dolceacqua in two adjacent valleys.

Testalonga is the iconic, old-school producer of these 17. Antonio (“Nino”) Perrino began making wine in 1961; he now works with his niece Erica. Together they organically farm two hectares of mostly very old vines in sandy soils at 400 meters of altitude. Nino and Erica make 8000 bottles a year total of one red wine and one white wine - and that’s in a good vintage. For the red wine, the grapes are foot-trod, then macerate for two weeks, and then age for a year in large, very old barrels. The wine is a savory symphony of dark berries, herbs and spices, iron, and smoke. There’s good acidity, moderate tannin, and great length. It’s expressive and excellent now but certainly is at the beginning of a long life. (Mark drank a 2012 of this wine in Liguria earlier this year, and it was one of the best wines of the trip - including lots of great Tuscan and Piemontesi reds.) Decant it for an hour or two and drink it in a Burgundy stem with pork, rabbit, or a pesto minestrone.