Luigi Spertino

Luigi Spertino
Spertino vineyard
Spertino
Luigi Spertino
Luigi Spertino

Photography and writing by Ted Vance.

Mauro Spertino is one of the most artistic and technical craftspeople in our entire portfolio. The diversity and skill demonstrated throughout his range forecast the inevitability that he will find his place among other wine alchemists in Italy whose unmistakable imprints are evident at first smell—Quintarelli, Bea and Soldera are names that come to mind.

The Spertino family has worked their lands to make ends meet by selling grapes and almonds since 1898. Luigi Spertino took over the family estate in 1977 and began to bottle wines under the family name the following year. Surrounded by wine his entire life, his son Mauro gradually took the reins and the wines have reached a level of distinction rarely found in the wine world.

His reds range from bright and sensual, able to flutter and seduce, to more elixir-like and dark, which mesmerize with a deep well of discovery in each smell and taste. Mauro toys with Cortese, a white grape from which he slowly extracts an orange hue, crystalline clarity and mind-bending complexity. His vermouth, Belle Epoque, carries a ballerina-like balance of power and grace. All that he touches he makes into something dazzling and one of a kind.

To give Mauro Spertino any parcel of land is an opportunity to discover its potential, but with a twist. Every wine is subordinate to its terroir, but Mauro has learned how to harness the most distinguished and compelling expressions from his meticulously farmed grapes and turn them into something unexpected and uniquely special. He goes beyond every expectation with any parcel of land that may in the wrong hands just as easily produce nothing more than a decent wine.

Located in a northeastern area of Piedmont, the Spertino’s eleven hectares of vineyards are in the commune of Asti, inside the Tiglione Valley. La Mandorla, the hill next to their house where their grapes grow, means “the almond” in Italian. It takes this name because the almond trees begin to flower a month earlier than most other regions in Piedmont, which suggests that it’s one of the warmest microclimates in Asti.

Their west and eastern-facing vineyards on La Mandorla are steep and near forest groves that help to lower the nighttime heat. The soils are primarily composed of clay (70%) and sand (30%), and are gifted with the magical influence of its high limestone content. Mauro’s vines are cultivated to meet EU organic standards and everything is done by hand, including the mowing of the grass and herbs between the vine rows. [cm_tooltip_parse] -TV [/cm_tooltip_parse]

Grignolino d’Asti “Margherita Barbero”

Luigi Spertino - 2019 Grignolino d’Asti, ‘Margherita Barbero’

Price: $56.00
Size: 750ml
Availability: 

Out of stock

Type of Wine: Red
Style: Medium Body, Elegant and Aromatic

Mauro Spertino’s rendition of this typical easy quaffing wine is nothing short of spectacular. The aromas are almost theatrical in their exuberant display of personality; they’re hypnotic and cast a spell scented with Aperol, Persian mulberry, lemon zest, orange peel and exotic spices. The palate is fine, fresh, light and taut with a cool glycerol finish that brings everything into perfect harmony. There are few wines as lovely to drink as this. While it seems like a wine from another galaxy, its wonderfully pleasing dimensions and unique personality maintain the unmistakable taste of Piemontese wine.

The details: Depending on the vintage, it spends fifteen to twenty days during fermentation, then it’s racked into old barrels where it undergoes malolactic fermentation, followed by some time in stainless steel before it’s bottled. I would suggest serving a little more chilled than a typical red wine, perhaps somewhere between fifty and fifty-five degrees.