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Barbacan

Pizamej 2016

Price: $53.95
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Tasting notes

Pizamej comes from a 0.4-hectare parcel at 500 meters with 90 days of skin contact and 12 months in large Austrian oak, producing a Chiavennasca with genuine grip, violet-laced red fruit, and a mineral, tobacco-edged finish that holds its shape across a long palate. This is alpine Nebbiolo at its most site-specific: leaner and more precise than anything from the Langhe, with high acidity and fine tannins that reward a decade in the cellar.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
Taste profile
CherryVioletTobaccoMineral
  • Style: Dry, medium-bodied red; bright ruby with garnet; cherry, violet, tobacco, mineral; 13.5% ABV
  • Grapes & Terroir: Chiavennasca (Nebbiolo) with Rossola Nera and Pignola; organic, Valoritalia certified; sandy gneiss, granite, quartz soils; 500m elevation; Valgella subzone, San Giacomo di Teglio
  • Winemaking: Spontaneous fermentation, indigenous yeasts, stainless steel; 90-day maceration; 12 months in large 20-hectoliter Austrian oak; unfined, unfiltered, no added sulfites
  • Serving: Serve at 61-64°F; open 15-20 minutes before serving; decant briefly if drinking young; can age 8-12 years from vintage
  • Pairing: Braised lamb, beef brasato, aged Bitto or Casera cheese, polenta with meat ragu, game birds
  • Similar To: For fans of Barolo and Barbaresco who want alpine precision and lower ABV, or Burgundy lovers seeking structured red fruit with minerality

Pizamej is a single-vineyard wine from the Pizamej parcel in San Giacomo di Teglio, within the Valgella subzone of Valtellina Superiore DOCG. The vineyard sits at approximately 500 meters above sea level on a southeast-facing slope, planted on sandy soils rich in shale, gneiss, granite, and quartz. The name Pizamej means "pointed" in the local dialect, a reference to the shape of the site. Vines are trained by the Guyot method on narrow terraced plots so steep that all work is done entirely by hand.

The grape is Chiavennasca, the local name for Nebbiolo, with a small addition of old-vine Rossola Nera and Pignola. Fermentation is spontaneous with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel, with a 90-day maceration. The wine is then aged 12 months in large 20-hectoliter Austrian oak barrels. It is bottled unfined, unfiltered, and without added sulfites.

The 2016 vintage shows a bright ruby with garnet nuances. On the nose: cherry, blackcurrant, violet, dried flowers, tobacco, and a mineral backbone. The palate is warm and vertical with smooth tannins and lively acidity, finishing long with floral and mineral echoes. At 13.5% ABV, this is a structured wine with real aging potential.

Barbacan is certified organic by Valoritalia. The Sega family cultivates approximately 30 biotypes of Chiavennasca from their own nursery stock, preserving the genetic diversity of the local clone population.

Braised or roasted red meats work well here, particularly lamb shoulder or beef brasato. The wine's acidity and fine tannins also hold up to aged alpine cheeses like Bitto or Casera. Try it alongside polenta with a meat ragu, a classic pairing in the Valtellina valley.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Red Wine
Wine Style:, Medium Body
Grapes:, Nebbiolo
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, 2016
Alcohol:, 13.5%
Country:, Italy
Region:, Lombardy
Appellation:, Valtellina Superiore DOCG
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

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Producer profile

Barbacan

Barbacan is a family estate in San Giacomo di Teglio, a village in the heart of the Valgella subzone of Valtellina, Lombardy. The winery is run by Angelo Sega and his sons Luca and Matteo. The name Barbacan refers to the stone buttressing walls found throughout the terraced vineyards, a term from the local Alpine dialect. The winery's labels reproduce Neolithic cave paintings discovered in the surrounding mountains. The estate farms vineyards at 400 to 750 meters above sea level on sandy soils composed of gneiss, granite, and quartz. All vineyard work is done entirely by hand; mechanization is impossible on slopes of this gradient. Matteo Sega has stated that maintaining the plots requires approximately 1,400 man-hours per hectare per year, roughly ten times the labor of a flatland estate.

Barbacan practices organic viticulture and is certified by Valoritalia. No irrigation is used. The family maintains a nursery of approximately 30 biotypes of Chiavennasca, allowing them to replant from their own vine material and preserve the genetic diversity of their specific clone population. Vineyards also include ancient indigenous varieties: Rossola, Pignola, Brugnola, Negrera, Rossolino Rosa, and Chiavennaschino, which appear in small proportions across their wines.

In the cellar, Barbacan uses spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks. Maceration for Pizamej runs 90 days. The wine is then aged 12 months in large 20-hectoliter Austrian oak barrels. Nothing is fined or filtered. Sulfur additions, when used at all, are kept minimal and added only at bottling. The Sega family produces three wines: Rosso di Valtellina, Valtellina Superiore Valgella Sol, and Valtellina Superiore Valgella Pizamej, with total annual production of around 20,000 bottles across the range.

Wine region

Lombardy, Italy

Valtellina is a narrow Alpine valley in the northernmost corner of Lombardy, running east to west along the Adda River near the Swiss border. Because the valley cuts laterally through the Rhaetian Alps, its northern slopes face south, allowing Nebbiolo to ripen at elevations between 300 and 800 meters. This orientation is the geological accident that makes viticulture here possible. Slopes exceed 30 degrees in many parcels, making mechanization impossible. Soils are formed from the breakdown of granite, gneiss, and quartz, producing well-drained, low-nutrient substrates that force deep rooting and yield wines with a characteristic stony minerality. Temperatures vary significantly between day and night during the growing season, preserving acidity and aromatic freshness.

Valtellina Superiore DOCG, elevated from DOC in 1998, encompasses five named subzones: Sassella, Grumello, Inferno, Maroggia, and Valgella. Wines must contain at least 90% Chiavennasca (Nebbiolo), with up to 10% of traditional local varieties such as Rossola, Pignola, and Brugnola permitted. Minimum aging is 24 months total, with at least 12 months in wood. Valgella is the largest subzone at roughly 140 hectares, spanning the municipalities of Chiuro and Teglio at elevations between 350 and 650 meters. It is consistently described as producing the most elegant and finesse-driven wines in the appellation. Valgella is known for wines with silky tannins, floral aromatics, and mineral precision. The region also produces Sforzato di Valtellina DOCG, a dried-grape wine made from pure Nebbiolo in the style of Amarone.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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