PRICE $21.99, CASE PRICE $240/$20 per bottle

One of the old time wineries of the Gattiara region of the Alto Piemonte, under an hour’s drive northwest of Milan-Malpensa airport, the Antoniolo family has been farming these impossibly inhospitable hills since 1948 and making their long-lived, ultra-elegant Nebbiolo-based wines even while the area was one of Italy’s poorest vinous backwaters. They also make this delightfully dry, really aromatic pink version of Nebbiolo from younger vines farmed for just that purpose. Hand harvested, the grapes sit on their skins after crushing for only a few hours before the juice is decanted off for fermentation in tank where it percolates away nice and cool for three weeks before being racked again and aged for a mere three months before we get it, as fresh as you like! If the cerulean blue skies of these alpine slopes could be pink, it would be this truly beautiful, truly refreshing savory and delicious Rosato! The Nebbiolo grape (locally called ‘Spanna’) makes its presence felt in its charming yellow cherry-alpine strawberry fruit and finishing zippy acidity. Not delicate, exactly, but not hefty either, this is exactly the kind of Rose you can open and drink while you are deciding what to drink next! Great with smoked meats, La Tur or Gorgonzola Piccante cheese or all sorts of easy going antipasti, it’s pretty damned tasty all on its own too! *** Arugulas and **+ Hammocks on PRIMA’s scientific Rose scale.