Pensiero
ALCOHOL: 9,5% • YEAR OF PLANTING: between 1959 and 1980
FERMENTATION – CELLARING: 60% redution by thinning out the bunches in early August.
FERMENTATION: after its first fermentation in a tank, the wine is bottled. There, part of the residual sugars will ferment again, this time at a temperature of 5-8°C. As soon as a pressure of 6 bars is reached, the fermentation is stopped by lowering the temperature to between 3 and 5° below zero. A very long fermentation sur lie (12 years) is followed by remuage on the traditional pupitres twice a day for approx. 25 days, to deposit the lees on the cap. Following remuage, the wine is cleaned by degorgement and sealed again with a natural mushroom-shaped cork.
LONGEVITY: I’d really love to taste it in twenty years’ time … and I certainly will!
FOOD PAIRING: It can be sipped as an aperitif, or paired with cheese or non-creamy pastries, provided they are not too sweet. I am convinced, though, that it should be tasted on its own to appreciate its special complexity better.
CHARATERISTICS
With the 1996 harvest, Valter Bosticardo broke every frontier, keeping his wine sur lie for as long as 12 years, with a final degorgement in July 2008. The result is a unique, sensational experience, perhaps a once-and-forever thing. To the nose, it is an explosion of exotic scents, from lychees to overripe pineapples – a tide of sensations that spark imagination and discussion; some have even likened it to the bitter-sweet “mal d’Afrique” known only to travelers. On the palate, it has a striking freshness, tinged with a balsamic sensation, and with a lingering, complex aftertaste.