Pinerolese DOC Doux d'Henry Gross d'Henry

Doux d'Henry 100%, the Rarest Red Grape Variety in Piedmont, in Steel and Bottle – Independent Winemakers, Collina di Santa Brigida, 12,5% ​​vol.

Lively ruby, red fruits and spices, soft and harmonious sip: the light red to drink young, with cured meats, omelettes and everyday cheeses.

The Gross d'Henry, Pinerolese DOC Doux d'Henry by Dellerba

There are wines that can be found in every wine shop and wines that can be found in just one valley. Gross d'Henry It belongs to the latter: it is a pure Pinerolese DOC Doux d'Henry, produced by Alex and Andrea Dellerba with the rarest and most distinctive grape from their hill, grown at 540 meters on the southwest-facing Santa Brigida slope, on sandy, mineral soils. Doux d'Henry is a red grape variety with large, thin-skinned berries, producing light-colored, highly enjoyable wines. The brothers treat it with the delicacy it deserves: hand-harvested in the first half of September, light pressing and destemming, fermentation and maceration on the skins at a controlled temperature with two pumpings per day to extract color and aromas without harshness, and then aged in stainless steel and bottle, without oak. In the glass, it presents a lively and brilliant ruby ​​red color, with a fresh, fruity aroma of red fruits and spices and a soft, harmonious flavor, with good structure and balanced acidity. It's a ready-to-drink wine, best enjoyed within two years, designed for everyday dining: cured meat appetizers, omelettes, and medium-aged cheeses. The name plays on the Piedmontese dialect, where gross It means great: the "great Enrico" for the "dolce di Enrico" grape variety. Produced by independent winemakers.
 
 
 

The roots of this Doux d'Henry lie in a grape variety that exists only here.

Doux d'Henry is one of the great mysteries of Piedmontese viticulture. It is grown only in the Pinerolo area, between the Chisone and Pellice Valleys, and nowhere else in the world: a grape with large, juicy berries, as good for eating as it is for making wine, which 19th-century ampelographers, beginning with Count Giuseppe di Rovasenda, author of the most extensive catalog of grape varieties ever written in 1877, already described as a local curiosity. Its French name tells the story of these valleys, a borderland and gateway between Piedmont and the Dauphiné, and legend links it to King Henry IV of France, who supposedly tasted and appreciated it during a stay in Pinerolo. In the 20th century, with the abandonment of mountain vineyards, Doux d'Henry came close to extinction; It was saved by a few stubborn winemakers and, in 1996, the creation of the Pinerolese DOC denomination, which dedicated its own style to it, almost unique in Italy for such a rare grape variety. Today, only a few dozen hectares remain, and every bottle is a piece of biodiversity that remains alive. The Gross d'Henry dei Dellerba is one of these pieces.
 
 
 

Choosing Dellerba's Gross d'Henry means taking care of the land

Cultivating a rare grape variety is a form of stewardship. Every row of Doux d'Henry that the Dellerbas prune, fertilize with manure from their Piedmontese cows, and harvest by hand is a genetic heritage that must not be lost, and doing so in CCPB certified organic, on soils never worked in depth, with the energy of solar panels, means caring for it in the right way. The vinification of Gross d'Henry respects the gentle nature of the grape: the maceration at controlled temperature with frequent but delicate pumping over it extracts the little colour and the many aromas of the vine without forcing the tannins, and therefinement in steel It retains the fruity freshness that is its raison d'être. A ready-to-drink wine, with 12,5% ​​ABV, it is also a wine of measure: created to accompany a simple meal, not to dominate it. The brand of Independent Winemakers guarantees that from the vineyard to the bottle everything took place on the Santa Brigida hill.
 
 
 

Technical Data

• Appellation: Pinerolese DOC Doux d'Henry – Piedmont
• Type: ready-to-drink red wine
• Grape variety: 100% Doux d'Henry
• Training system: Guyot
• Exposure: South-West
• Altitude: 540 m asl
• Soil: sandy, highly mineral
• Harvest: manual, first half of September, depending on ripeness
• Vinification: gentle pressing and destemming; fermentation and maceration on the skins at a controlled temperature (30°C), with two pumpings over per day to aid the extraction of colour and aromas.
• Aging: in steel and in bottle
• Alcohol: 12,5% vol.
• Serving temperature: 18°C
• Storage: ready-to-drink wine, to be consumed within 2 years
• Certification: Independent Winemakers
• It contains SULPHITES

Organoleptic Examination

Visual examination. The Gross d'Henry has a ruby ​​red colour of medium intensity, with bright and vivid shades and purple highlights on the rim: the clear, luminous color typical of Doux d'Henry, a grape with thin skins that releases little pigment. The transparency is good and the consistency is medium, with light tears that herald a lively, easy-drinking wine.

Olfactory examination. The perfume is fresh and fruity, immediate: red fruits in the foreground, strawberry, raspberry and crunchy cherry, with a base of note speziate Delicate, pink pepper and a hint of mountain herbs, and a floral note of rose and violet. There's no wood to mediate, and the nose remains clean and inviting, like the scent of freshly pressed grapes.

Taste test. In the mouth the wine is soft and harmonious, having a good structure which surprises for such a light red and abalanced acidity This keeps it fresh and smooth. The tannins are light and silky, the fruit returns on the palate along with a light minerality, and the finish is medium-lingering, clean, and thirst-quenching. A red that's easy and enjoyable to drink, even slightly chilled, and never tires.
 
 
 

Gastronomic pairings

Gross d'Henry is the red wine for everyday and informal dining. It pairs best with cold cuts appetizers, from salami to flavoured lards, where its balanced acidity lightens the fat without covering the flavours; it is one of the few reds that really go well with egg-based dishes, omelettes, fried eggs and savory pies, thanks to the light tannins that do not contrast with the softness of the egg; and it goes well with medium-aged cheeses, caciotta, scamorza, young pecorino, and caciocavallo, with which it shares structure and delicacy. It also pairs well with rich vegetable dishes, legume soups, and pizza. Serve at 18°C, or a couple of degrees cooler in warmer weather, in medium-sized glasses.
 
 
 

How to Best Use: Pinerolese DOC Doux d'Henry Gross d'Henry

• CURED MEATS APPETIZER WITH CHILLI JAM – Light red and cured meats are made for each other. Arrange the Corallina Salami from Tuscia, the Dry Cured Sausage and thin slices of Organic Caserta Black Pork Lard, to be melted on a slice of warm bread. Alongside, the Lazio buffalo scamorza in wedges and a jar of Salina chilli pepper jam, whose sweet-spicy flavour makes the red fruits of the Gross d'Henry vibrate.
• CHARD, FRIGGITELLI AND FRESH PECORINO CHEESE OMELETTE – The dish that other red wines can't pair well with. Sauté the Clean Organic Green Chard and Organic Friggitelli Peppers into slices, add the beaten eggs with the Fresh Falisco Pecorino diced and some Salina Capers in Slow Food Vinegar, and cook the omelette until it is tall and soft. Serve it warm with a salad of Organic Red Chicory: the silky tannins of the wine glide over the egg without ever scratching.
• MEDIUM-MATURE CHEESES AND AUTUMN FRUIT – A simple dinner that Gross d'Henry makes special. Bring to the table the Smoked buffalo caciocavallo and Brie with Chives "Fiocco della Tuscia", with segments of Organic Abate Pears, Vanilla persimmons  and a tablespoon of Organic apple and grape compoteThe pink peppercorn of the brie and the smoke of the caciocavallo cheese echo the spice of the wine, while the fruit recalls its sweetness.

The Producer: Dellerba

Alex and Andrea Dellerba have been cultivating the Santa Brigida hill in Pinerolo since 2012, with organic vineyards of Freisa, Barbera, Favorita, Malvasia, and Doux d'Henry, fruit orchards, pastures for Piedmontese cattle, and a farm with an educational farm. Doux d'Henry is the grape that most ties them to their terroir: they vinify it as a red wine in the Gross d'Henry and make it a sparkling white in the Facta, two ways to preserve a grape that exists only in the Pinerolo area.
 
 
 

Ingredients

Doux d'Henry grapes. Contains SULPHITES.
 
 
 

Nutritional Values ​​(average values ​​per 100ml of product)

• Energy: 289,19 kJ / 69,12 kcal
• Alcohol: 12,5% vol.

Storage and Disposal

Ready-to-drink wine: store bottles lying down in a cool, dark place, away from heat, and consume within two years to fully enjoy its fruity freshness. Serve at 18°C ​​(64°F), or slightly cooler in summer. After opening, reseal and refrigerate, consuming within two to three days. Disposal: bottle in the glass recycling bin, cork in the organic waste bin or designated collection points, and cap according to your local council's instructions.
 
 
 

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