This week’s Wine Wednesday is dedicated to a Cru wine from Mamete Prevostini, a producer I am fond of from the Valtellina. This wine is called San Lorenzo Superiore Sassella DOCG. San Lorenzo is the name of a convent near the city of Sondrio. The vineyard is within it’s walls at 450 meters above sea level. I had never had this wine of theirs until the other day when I tasted it at the Tre Bicchieri event by Gambero Rosso. It was elegant and refined with floral and red and black fruit notes. I liked the silky tannins and the vertical direct nature of this wine. It spends 16 months in oak and then 10 more in the bottle before release.  The yields on this wine are very low 36 hl/ha and the vineyard has been planted with Nebbiolo since 2005.

The winery was started some 70 years ago by Mamete’s grandfather. The family’s first labor of love was their restaurant called Crotasc where his grandfather served the wines he made from local grapes. The wine business began after the restaurant.

Mamete has been running it since 1988. He is a firm believe in the concept of terroir and strives to bring both tradition and innovation to the wines. They look to make wines that are all about elegance, finesse and power. I think this wine was a great example of that as are the other wines of theirs I have tried.