Villa Giada. Gamba di Pernice

Vino da Tavola
Grape: Gamba di Pernice

This is all nutmeg, black pepper, black cherry and sloe; deep, rich and remarkably accessible tannins. 15%

Villa Giada Producer Page

Gamba di Pernice is one of oldest Piemontese grape varieties, it is named after the vine’s red stem (leg of the partridge, a French Partridge by the sound of it) and, whilst I understand it being overlooked (it is extremely rare), letting it languish as ‘Vino Rosso’ right up to 2011 was unfair.  Its recognition came with a frustrating name change from Gamba di Pernice to Gamba Rosso, with a DOC, providing the vines were from Calosso.  Villa Giada could make a Calosso DOC, if the Tre Termini vineyard was within the deliminated Calosso appellation, but it is not.  So, Andrea, a key figure behind Calosso’s creation, has been cut out!  Keeping the original name is a small protest, one the world will probably miss.

It is a grape that requires careful handling, a gentle de-stemming and long 20 day, spontaneous fermentation in temperature-controlled steel tanks (29-30ºC).  It is this long fermentation and prolonged skin-contact that ensures a wine with a strong structure that, once bottled, needs at least a year in bottle before the tannins are brought into line.