Le Salette

Le Salette’s History and Philosophy

Once a word widely feared in European viticultural environments was Phylloxera,  a North American insect that feeds on the roots of the vineyards. This insect found new ground to conquer when it reached Europe in the mid-nineteenth century. The American vines were resistant to its aggressions, but the European vine, vitis vinifera , the vine that, in its hundreds of different varieties, gives grapes for all the best wines in the world, did not enjoy this immunity, and this insect quickly brought chaos and threatened to destroy the vineyards of the continent and to end the production of European wine.

A solution was found, namely to graft European vineyards on American rootstocks, and the wine as we know it today was fortunately saved. Traces and tributes can be found of this fact in the town of Fumane in Valpolicella , in particular a sanctuary called Le Salette  dedicated to the Virgin Mary in honor of the liberation of the town’s vineyards from the plague .  Le Salette is also a winery, however, which belongs to one of the historic families of the denomination, the Scamperle , active in the area since the nineteenth century.

The wines of Le Salette

Their possessions amount to 20 hectares of vineyards, relatively small in terms of extension, but first choice in terms of potential for excellence; Fumane, in fact, hosts a series of names of producers that indicate that, with the right application, commitment and knowledge on wine production, it is not particularly difficult to produce a high level Valpolicella, and the land does much of the work. The Scamperle line is succinct and concentrated, of course, on the main types that have given the area its rightful reputation: Valpolicella Classico and Valpolicella Classico Ripasso , Amarone della Valpolicella Classico , and Recioto della Valpolicella Classico .

The range, however, is further divided, in the case of Amarone and Recioto, into regular bottling and a selection. The last from old vineyards (as evidenced by the name: Pergole Vece ) is produced with an unmistakable style: rich and full, warm and generous, long and deep, it is one of the wines that have given the current luster both to the denomination and to the company. 

Amarone della Valpolicella ‘Pergole Vece’