2009 Sella "Orbello" Coste della Sesia

From the importer: "The Sella wine estates are one of the oldest active Italian wine producers. The Sella family has produced wine in Lessona from their own vineyards since 1671. The documents from that period are still preserved in the Sella Foundation. Over the next three centuries, the Sella family has kept the estate intact and its cellars still hold old vintages of these wines, including Lessona dating back from as early as 1881. Today the estate still maintains its original artisanal scale and is still devoted to the limited production of high-quality wine. The Sella family produces eight wines, made principally of Nebbiolo. The four top wines are made from grapes grown in vineyards that are at least forty years old, with parcels that are more than 80 years old, particularly the Lessona vineyard called San Sebastiano allo Zoppo. The grapes from young vines of Lessona and Bramaterra are combined to make the estate second wine: L´Orbello. The fruit for Orbello comes from old-vine Barbera and Cabernet vineyards that date back to the 60s, to which are added young-vine Nebbiolo and Vespolina. In our judgement this is an extraordinary everyday wine, sold for the price of a normal Barbera or Dolcetto, with which it shares immediate drinkability but compared to which it offers more complexity and broader aromatic qualities. You will find here the same mineral and spice elements found in the more prestigious Lessona and Bramaterra, but in a fresher, more forward interpretation."