Valpolicella - Superiore - Campo Selce - Contrada Palui

The Valpolicella Superiore DOC Campo Selce from Contrada Palui is the wine that tells the story of Hannes Pichler's most specific and distinctive terroir - that of flint. "Campo Selce" is not a poetic name chosen for marketing: it is the literal description of a vineyard plot on flint-rich soils, the extremely hard and sharp flintstone that defines the unique geological composition of the Contrada Palui vineyard at an altitude of 500 meters between Trezzolano and Negrar.

The Valpolicella Superiore Campo Selce reflects the unique flint terroir of Contrada Palui - produced from grapes dried for 3-4 weeks on straw mats, with a 15-20% loss of juice before vinification. Not the 90 days of Amarone, not extreme concentration pursued at all costs - but a short, precise drying period, calibrated to add complexity and structure without altering the freshness and minerality that only Contrada Palui's 500 meters can offer. The result is a Superiore unlike any other in the appellation - more vertical, more mineral, and fresher than any Valpolicella Superiore produced in the lowlands or at a typical elevation.

Hannes farms this vineyard with the uncompromising organic rigor that characterizes all of Contrada Palui's production - no synthetic chemical treatments, respect for natural cycles, and minimal intervention in the cellar. The grapes, 60% Corvina, 30% Corvinone, and 10% Rondinella, are harvested by hand in small crates, dried for 25-30 days on straw mats in the vineyard's ventilated drying facility, and then vinified through spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts. The wine is aged for 12 months in 15-hectoliter French oak casks - an intermediate size that ensures elegant, non-invasive wood influence while preserving all the ferrous minerality and acidic freshness that are the signature of the flint terroir - followed by 12 months of bottle aging before release.

On the nose, it is precise and mineral - profoundly different from any Valpolicella Superiore in the catalog: fresh and vibrant red fruit, crisp cherry, raspberry, wildflowers, delicate spices, alpine herbs, and a distinctive ferrous, almost metallic note that is the unmistakable signature of the Campo Selce flint. On the palate, it is taut and vertical - its 14.5% alcohol well integrated thanks to the vibrant acidity preserved by the altitude, with present yet refined tannins, a freshness that is surprising for the style, and a long, clean, mineral finish that evolves with notes of red fruit and stone. Serve at 16-17°C, with brief decanting. A Valpolicella Superiore that speaks of a precise place - 500 meters, black flint, and the wind of the Lessinia Mountains.