Togliana. Carema l'Arsin

Carema DOC
Grape: Nebbiolo (known locally as Picotendro)

Basil, rose, camomile, spice and salt, a vigorous, crystalline purity to this full-flavoured, silky wine.  13.5%

Archille Milanesio producer page

L’Arsin simply means grape in the ancient dialect of the area.  An unassuming name for a wine that, until 2019 was simply supplying grapes for the Milanese family’s table wines.  This may sound farfetched, but Carema is tiny, and nobody had heard of the wines, let along understood the significance of this historical and unique Picotendro (Nebbiolo), it had limited value, now the land is gold-dust.  So, Archille has registered his old 0.5ha plot just above his home, a wonderful site in the centre of the Carema amphitheatre of vines.
The Picotendro is Topia* trained and organically farmed.  Grapes are hand-picked and fermented in small steel tanks using a pied de cuve*.  The cap is kept submerged for about a month, after which the wine is racked and remains in steel until malolactic conversion is complete.  Some of the wine is aged in chestnut and some in third passage oak barrique, the finished wine is bottled without filtration.

2017 - 18 points Walter Speller (Jancis Robinson)