Testalonga Dolceacqua DOC 2023 - 13.5%

Very rare and limited allocation - Max 1 bottle of each per person.

Rossese di Dolceacqua from a single vineyard less than 1 ha with vines up to 100 years old (most 30-40 years old). 18 days maceration and 18 months in 500L old oak barrels. These are truly artisan wines that purely express the terroir and the vintage. 

On a rainy September day we visited Nino and Erica Perrino with our good friend and client Mattia of Le Travi and his old friend Miki (and owner of local wine bar Eco in Albenga - visit if you can!) as they were cleaning their 7 old 500L oak barrels ready for the harvest to come. The cellar is tiny and humble and bears the hallmarks of its many years of loving use.

The cellar is in the historic village of Dolceaqua, Liguria. The vines covering the hillsides around the village which lies about 8km inland from the Mediterranean coast in a north-south valley of Ligurian hills. We were really lucky that day (as we feel every time we visit such winemakers) as the rainy day, the mist on the hills, the old grey walls and stone of the village, the river running with purpose through the village to a coast resplendent in Italian riviera glitz that is in stark contrast to the cellar and wines of Testalonga and a world that seemingly by-passes the village in a rush on the coastal motorway. Yet it all is expressed in the wines. Both warm and cozy yet also bright and uplifting. Full of life, yet humble, honest and without pretention. One white, one red - no nonsense. Made from the same vines, in the exact same way for 60+ years. With a total production of just ~4000 bottles per year. Dolceaqua is renowned for the Rossese di Dolceaqua wine (often just known Dolceaqua).