Valcamonica wines aged in ice “cellar-igloo” go up for auction for research

They will go to auction, to fund research, the bottles of Valcamonica wine refined in an all-ice cellar-igloo, the result of the curious project of the Pontedilegno-Tonale Consortium with the Consorzio Vini di Valcamonica, Cantina Bignotti and Unimont - Università della Montagna, a pole of excellence of the University of Milan. The trial, launched at the beginning of 2022, aims to clarify what effect in organoleptic terms the choice of aging in an igloo at 2,000 meters above sea level produces. Now that the ice has melted, the bottles are ready to be compared with other “analogs” that have, however, carried out traditional aging in cellars at the bottom of the valley. And the first evidence, explains Davide Pedrali, food technologist at Unimont, would already be there: “from the first investigations carried out, it would appear that white wine samples stored in igloos have a higher amount of organic acids than those stored in cellars. These are elements responsible for the aroma and flavor of the wine. We can, therefore, expect a different taste between the two. For red wines, we found the opposite: those stored in igloos had a lower organic acid content. No difference, on the other hand, emerged in terms of acidity, pH and alcohol content between igloo-aged and cellar-aged wines”. The auction sale of the bottles, aged in the “ice cellar”, will be in Ponte di Legno on July 9 at Corno d’Aola, near the Petit Pierre Refuge, at an altitude of 2,000 meters. At the event, the wines aged in the winery will be available for tasting in a journey of discovery led by sommelier Roberto Spadaccini, which will have an additional special feature: each glass will be accompanied by the crystal-clear voice of singer Kelly Joyce in a quartet, with the musicians who together with her created the “DeCanto” project, with a pairing of the songs to the wines, based on the characteristics of the wines themselves.