Late spring marks the season of the new vintages of Coppo wines.

Barolo 2018, Chardonnay Costebianche 2020 and Gavi La Rocca 2020 have already been released in 2022. As for the Barbera, Coppo has already released its popular vintage version, L’Avvocata, with its 2021 harvest.
All the reference wines will be noted on the calendar for the coming months.

Camp du Rouss 2020 is expected by the end of summer. It is the trait d’union between the vintage Barbera and the most valuable results of the never-ending research around this grape variety for Coppo, the wines that today fall under the Nizza DOCG appellation.

Nizza

The entire Coppo line dedicated to the denomination will be completed in autumn.
We begin with Pomorosso 2019, Coppo’s classic Nizza, a synthesis of the best vineyards, with a recognizable style over the years. Then it’s the turn of the wines single-vineyards in Nizza: Bric del Marchese and Pontiselli, still in the 2019 vintages.

The most exclusive Barbera-based wine of the Coppo production is already available. We are talking about the RdF (Riserva della Famiglia) Nizza docg Riserva, a wine sourced only from the Gavelli vineyard located in Castelnuovo Calcea. The 2017 vintage is produced in just over 2000 bottles.

While Chardonnay lovers await Monteriolo 2019, one of the internationally recognized peaks of the Canelli winery, bubbles enthusiasts can count on a particularly interesting 2022.

Alta Langa

In fact, the year marks the complete transition of the historic labels of the sparkling wine house into the “Alta Langa” denomination.

In November, the 2013 vintage of Piero Coppo Riserva del Fondatore will be released, for the first time with the Alta Langa label.
If on one hand this labeling is a first-time, on the other hand it’s nothing but a new stimulus to the ancient bond between Coppo and high-quality traditional method spumante, dated back to the very foundation of the winery.

The 2017 vintage of Riserva Coppo has just been released, a wine that already in 1984 anticipated the standards required many years later by the Alta Langa. Luigi Coppo Alta Langa, Coppo’s best-selling sparkling wine, returns in October in its traditional and pas dosé versions.

Anyone who has visited the cellars or is a member of the Coppo Wine Club also knows A Licia Alta Langa pas dosé 2018, a classic method with no added sugar and which is not distributed through traditional channels but is produced in small numbers for those who have a direct relationship with Coppo .

Excellent wines are born in the vineyard

Dealing with wines means dealing with work in the vineyard and in the cellar, with the harvest and grapes, with climate change.

The centrality of these arguments, now widespread throughout the wine sector, becomes the first aspect to consider when speaking of a brand that has made the maximum expression of the specificity of the territory its mission.

We discussed this matter with Roberto Coppo, production manager, and with his collaborators.

“Like every year we try to interpret the vintage in the best way possible. It is important to understand the territory in order to adapt each time to a different climatic trend. The challenge that Coppo takes up is precisely the challenge of the vineyard and the cellar to always be able to reach the highest levels with our wines”.

“2021 was a hot year that followed the trend the last few ones. A good vintage that gave us excellent results – explains Gianmario Cerutti, manager of the Coppo vineyards.

“From a climatic point of view we faced some extreme situations.
The frost of 7-8 April happened much earlier than in 2017 and therefore did not affect the varieties of interest to us. During the year there was a water shortage but luckily without excessive water stress.

The harvest has provided us with the conditions for excellent wines.
We had excellent grapes especially the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay used for our Alta Langa and Barbera. Therefore a good acidity content for the Alta Langa sparkling wines and, for the Barbera, also an excellent polyphenolic maturation. For the Moscato we had excellent balance in the maturation”.

The harvest in the cellar

“It went very well. There were no major climatic problems during the harvest. Indeed, we had rains that intervened at the right time and helped us” – adds the winemaker Guglielmo Grasso.

“As for the whites, there was a slightly lower production than we thought. We had a good maturation, with a good development of aromas in fermentation and acidity which we maintained during the fermentation phase.

“For the red wines, the quality of the grapes was excellent. We collected healthy grapes and the right point of ripeness, so it allowed us to obtain the regular modification without major problems, despite the considerable structure, a good quantity of water”.

Climate change

“This great variability between vintages and this climate that manifests itself with extreme phenomena during the year – adds Cerutti – requires us as technicians to have great attention. We have to connect what happens in the vineyard with what will happen in the cellar. It is a great investment of resources and time to ensure that the grapes are always brought to the cellar at the right time and with the ideal characteristics to obtain excellent wines.

Harvesting grapes in baskets

Grasso has no doubts. The hand-picking and precise knowledge of the vineyard and its different areas are the keys to excellent production.

The use of baskets does not only preserve the health of the grape during harvesting and transport.

“The collection of all the grapes in baskets also allows us to keep the individual areas distinct within the same vineyard in order to vinify them separately in different tanks. As the vinification proceeds, we work tank by tank to understand the various characteristics of the grapes and the wine we want to obtain and which are the best times to carry out the fermentation”.