Coppo Pomorosso Barbera d'Asti Superiore Nizza 2017

Coppo Pomorosso Barbera d'Asti Superiore Nizza 2017 is made from  100% Barbera.

Pomorosso can be considered Coppo’s landmark. It’s a cornerstone of Barbera’s history, a wine that played an important role for the international recognition of Coppo. 100% barbera, Pomorosso always respected the most strict rules of production, even way before they were written down for “Nizza docg”. The soil is marine sediment and rich in minerals, which gives the wine finesse, minerality, and longevity.

Review:

This is one of those fortunate wines that enjoys special recognition as its own brand, Pomorosso. It's also one of the pioneers of the recently minted Nizza denomination. Coppo has been making Pomorosso since 1984 and has learned a thing or two along the way. The 2017 Nizza Pomorosso is an excellent edition from a vintage that mistreated many of Piedmont's other varieties because of scorching summer heat. However, Barbera loves the heat, and this wine has absorbed every last sunbeam, adding to the wine's inner richness and concentration. Dark fruit, black currant, spice, tobacco and barbecue smoke rise from the bouquet. The aromas are big, but so is the wine's hold and grip on the palate. I taste the heat (this bottle declares a 16% alcohol content), but fresh acidity keeps the wine from feeling too heavy or ripe.

-Wine Advocate 93 Points

The history of Coppo winery is inextricably wound with the wine history of Piedmont. It is closely linked to the development of the city of Canelli, known as the capital of Italian sparkling wine and one of Italy’s most important viticultural centers today.

The origins of the winery date back to 1892. For over 120 years, the family has remained the sole owner. Since the very beginning, the Coppo family has managed estate vineyards and bottled their own wine under the name of Coppo, making it one of the oldest family-run wineries in all of Italy.

Piero Coppo was the head of the family and founder of the core that became today’s modern winery. He was known for his finely-tuned palate and infallible nose. Above all, he was known for his strong sense of ethics with which he managed all his activities. He strived for perfection down to the last detail, personally checking on all phases of work, from the vineyards to pressing, and from the winemaking to bottling and aging in a near-obsessive search for absolute quality without compromise.

At the time, Canelli was an important market for Piedmontese grapes, and a fundamental juncture for vine growers and winemakers. It was in this city in the 1800s that Coppo made the first Italian spumante with secondary bottle fermentation. This method is the same used to make Champagne; thus, the wine was called Moscato Champagne. Coppo’s intuitive move was destined to change Italian wine history and cast the city of Canelli in a role of noteable importance as it proved itself worthy of developing an international wine industry at the forefront of change.

In Canelli in 1913, Piero married Clelia Pennone, the heir to the Pio Pennone winery, a “leading and renown” producer and exporter of wines that had already been active for two generations. Thus the Pennone winery was added to Coppo in the center of Canelli between Via Giuliani and Via Alba, and today comprises the central seat of the winery.

In this very winery at the end of the 18th century, the galleries and corridors known today as the Underground Cathedrals were excavated from the tuff stone under the earth. Because of their historical value and unique, architectural beauty, these underground cellars have been recognized as a Unesco World Heritage site.

Passing through the underground cellars, one may walk underneath the entire length of the hill, finally reaching the point where the spumanti rest on their lees. Here, at the end of the long lines of bottles, pass through an ancient wood and cast iron door to emerge directly on the other side in the garden of the magnificent art nouvea villa that Piero bought the same year he was married.

Wine production in the first decades of the 20th century was profuse and frenzied. Wine and sparkling wine sold fast in Italy and around the world, leaving the wineries on carts pulled by oxen and encased in 200-liter, oval Bordeaux barrels. Wine was exported mostly in South America and to the United States, where it was sold in bulk and in demijohns.