# Punta Crena Riviera Ligure di Ponente Rossese Vigneto Isasco (2023)

- **Producer:** Punta Crena
- **Colour:** red
- **Type:** still
- **Grapes:** Rossese
- **Region:** Liguria, Italy
- **Style:** Classic
- **Alcohol:** 12.5%
- **Average price:** €28
- **Vegan:** Yes
- **Contains sulphites:** Yes
- **When to drink:** Now or Later
- **Serving temperature:** 12–15 °C
- **Aromas & flavours:** strawberry, cherry, redcurrant, rose, herbaceous, fennel

## About this wine

The Ruffino family has tended terraced vineyards in the tiny coastal village of Varigotti in Liguria for over 500 years. Punta Crena is run by four siblings alongside their mother, preserving ancestral farming traditions along the Mediterranean coast. Their Rossese vines grow in Vigneto Isasco on high-aluminum red clay soil overlooking the sea, pruned high off the ground on dry-stone terraces to protect the ripening fruit from roaming wild boars.

## Interesting facts

- The Ruffino family has farmed the terraced vineyards of Varigotti for over 500 years.
- High aluminum content in local rocks oxidizes over time, creating distinctive red clay soil.
- Vines are trained high off the ground to protect sweet Rossese grapes from wild boars.
- Fermentation uses pressure from natural carbon dioxide release instead of mechanical pumps.

## Food pairing

This fresh, light-bodied red with bright acidity and fine tannins pairs naturally with herb-driven Ligurian cuisine, pesto, and oily or meaty fish that typically clash with heavily tannic red wines.

## Wine making process

Harvested entirely by hand from steep terraced vineyards near the coastline, the grapes undergo ambient yeast fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. Skin maceration lasts for 15 days without mechanical pumps, utilizing natural carbon dioxide pressure. The wine ages in stainless steel tanks for four months on its fine lees prior to bottling without oak contact.