Roja it is a valley in the district of the municipality of Ventimiglia, precisely in Camporosso, a few kilometers from the French border. An area that we can define as particular due to the geological conformation of the land, the altitude – 350 meters – the strong currents that creep in from the Alps, mitigating temperatures and creating a perfect microclimate for a slower ripening of the grapes. Factors that convinced a boy in 2000 – he had just finished high school – Roberto Rondellito recover his grandfather’s small vineyards and, by intuition almost as if to enter into symbiosis, become fond of the Migliarina – 3.5 hectares -, planting Vermentino, Pigato and in particular the Rossese vine of Dolceacqua who believes the grape variety is right to enhance the beauty of this land, because he already imagined making it the top of the range wine of his production.
This shows that the young Rondelli had clear ideas of what goals he wanted to achieve and even before having a cellar to transform the grapes he would grow. In fact, the first harvest took place in 2009 and the cellar was built three years later. For his wines, Roberto only used steel, then introduced wood, but he was nervous because he wanted to produce from the Rossese di Dolceacqua grapes what he imagined to be his top wine. And, moreover, he was aware that Rossese is a difficult vine to grow due to the very thin grape skin and the predisposition to not having a constant yield over time. But Rondelli was convinced he could do it. So since 2016 he has been engaged in studies and research to select the best parts of the Migliarina vineyard, one of the Added Geographical Mentions (names), to have the optimal grapes for his top wine. A goal that it will reach in 2022 with Roja, Rossese di Dolceacqua Superiore DOC produced in just 900 bottles. TO
now that it is ready with the second release, the 2023 harvest, with an almost tripled production – 2,500 bottles -, Rondelli has involved Riccardo Gabriele of Pr-comunicare il vino, to present himself to a selected group of wine lovers to present his “masterpiece” in Milan. The chosen location is the Il Liberty restaurant where the attention to wine is unquestionable. So much so that chef Andrea Provenzani has studied a menu suitable for serving with the 2022 Rossese di Dolceacqua Superiore, that is, veal roast on cream of potatoes and toasted leek. However, Rondelli took advantage of this beautiful tasting to present his entire production which is further embellished by the fact that for each wine he produces it hardly exceeds 2,000 bottles – the average annual production is 15,000 bottles – and for the Rossese the yield is just over half a kilo of grapes per plant.
It can be said that with Rondelli’s wines it is like taking a journey into a micro-world where the naturalistic components are in perfect balance and that it is up to man only to interpret and therefore indulge in this great beauty, where in the vineyard everything is done in sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. Then, in the cellar the watchword is “simplicity”, what is preferred is a “handmade” approach. So much so that the fermentations take place in small tanks to perform the punching down by hand, the racking is done without the aid of mechanical tools, in order to act in the most delicate way possible. The wine then passes into barriques, some of which are very used, and rests here for a year before being bottled, around September of the year following the harvest. It spends a few months aging in the bottle before being released on the market.
For Roberto, Roja “is the synthesis of my journey as a winemaker, born with the aim of reclaiming the potential of Western Liguria and this vine. A wine designed to have a great propensity for aging, combining structure and harmony. The tannic base is important but silky, I have extracted the beauty of the Rossese, the second quite high alcohol level and the enveloping sweetness tend towards an interminable depth. What I’m looking for is emotion. It is not for a vine that is known to be difficult to grow.”
If this isn’t heroic viticulture. With the awareness of Rondelli – supported by his wife Monica Cinquini who travels back and forth from Pietrasanta, where he works, to help him in the vineyard and in the cellar – who says: “I think that in a rich, complex territory with a thousand-year history like the Italian one, the The strategy of us Ligurian producers must pass through the knowledge of the most important denominations, which have been able to enhance the territories, arriving at the awareness that the beauty that surrounds us can be transmitted with our wines. Enhance the landscape more and more, starting from the land, not to standardize but to do the exact opposite: define the timeless, inimitable character and recognisability of our wines”.
