Wine of the week: a thrilling and magical creation

2018 Proprietà Sperino, Uvaggio, Coste della Sesia Rosso, Piemonte, Italy

£31.90, theatreofwine.com; £28.00, lockettbros.co.uk

I have featured many rare wines on this page over the years, but this fellow and its stablemates must be the most unusual and also the most difficult to track down. While Theatre of Wine stocks my featured 2018 vintage, Lockett Bros is still showing the 2016 online, but I am assured they have some 2018 in their cellar. Made by Chianti legend Paolo di Marchi’s son, Luca, in a far-flung corner of Alto Piemonte, this is the first vintage of Uvaggio that includes 100% fruit from Lessona. Nebbiolo forms the body, taking up 85% of the blend and the rare vespolina grape makes up the numbers. The haunting nebbiolo perfume of wild black cherries, raspberries and rhubarb is underpinned with remarkable mineralfringed tension. The Lessona soils are one of a kind. I can taste the amazing sandy raspiness on the finish, and it brings a magical air to this thrilling creation. Luca chose not to use any fruit from his Bramaterra vineyards in this vintage, preferring to bottle it separately (a first-ever), and I hope we are sent a few bottles for the UK market, because it is sublime. One that is certain is Luca’s 2021 Proprietà Sperino, Rosa del Rosa (RRP £22.99), literally a rosé from the foot of Monte Rosa. It has arrived in the UK, and while there are no stockists yet, it is the most hedonistic and foodie of all nebbiolo rosés with an austere, herbal, vegetal and red fruit palate that makes my hairs stand on end.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year (MatthewJukes.com).