La Stoppa, ‘Ageno’ Bianco Emilia IGT, Italy, 2020

Overview of the Wine
La Stoppa is an ancient company founded more than a hundred years ago. It is located in Emilia Romagna, in Val Trebbiola, not far from the Trebbia river, in the province of Piacenza. 

The company extends over 58 hectares of which 30 are vineyards and 28 are woods. In the second half of the 19th century, the lawyer Giancarlo Ageno discovered the wine-growing vocation of this place and began producing wines with significant and curious names such as Bordò, Bordò bianco, Pinò. In 1973 La Stoppa was purchased by the Pantaleoni family and, since the mid-1990s, Elena Pantaleoni has run the company. Elena, supported by Giulio Armani, has focused her work on the vineyard, managed according to the organic method certified by Suolo e Salute.

The vineyard is cared for by letting the plant grow autonomously, without fertilisers or weed killers, only sulphur and copper treatments. All the work is done by hand, from pruning to tying, suckering, trimming, up to harvesting to ensure greater control and keep the quality of the grapes intact. The grapes from the youngest vines are intended for the production of young wines and the most prized grapes and from old vines for the production of long-aging wines. Since the mid-nineties, the cultivation of local varieties has been privileged: Barbera and Croatina for red grapes, Malvasia di Candia Aromatica for white grapes.

Organic & Natural

Grape / Blend
90% Malvasia, 10% Ortrugo & Trebbiano Toscano.

Origin
Italy

Tasting Notes
The different grapes are co-planted and the vines average 30 years in age. The fruit is picked together, destemmed and macerated with the skins for approximately a month (less time in warmer vintages, more in cooler ones); a cap of skins and seeds forms and is not broken but is kept moistened with the fermenting wine.

Full bodied, spicy and honeyed wine with haunting aromas of rose, musk, chamomile and thyme. Full of deep, pure, head-turning flavours, modulating from rose-water charm through clean apple-orchard fruit, oranges and rhubarb. Notes of cinnamon and ginger come through on the memorable finish. Somehow more than the sum of its parts.

Product size: 750ml