The western ridge of the Val Verbone, Posaù is a spectacular natural amphitheater in the municipality of San Biagio della Cima.  Maybe one of the greatest sites in the Dolceaqua. It is a storied cru amongst the locals and makes one of the most revered single vineyard wines in the appellation of Dolceacqua. It is capable of a being its of dynamic climate with its steep and long vineyard that takes into account different altitudes, soils and expositions. Historically it is one of the two or three Rossese wines with the highest alcohol content and most tannic structure.

Appellation: Rossese di Dolceacqua Superiore DOC

Varietal: 100% Rossese di Dolceacqua

Winemaking: Vineyard located 300 meters above sea level in a natural amphitheater locally known as “the place of repose” hence the local dialect name “Posau”. Sand and silica soil. Provençal bush trained vines. Hand harvested. Fermented with indigenous yeast and matured in stainless steel tanks.

ABV: 13%

Tasting Notes: Medium (-) ruby red, lighter red edges. The bouquet is exceptionally open and pronounced, intense: it smells of red berry fruits colliding with orange citrus fruit and peels, mushrooms, spices, and earth, with flowers and saline...phew!  The palate is medium bodied, with med/med+ acidity, and a pronounced, energetic intensity and layering of the flavors. Long and fresh, that mind boggling complexity continues into the finish. As it ages this wine gains deeper dimensions of complexity like sweet notes of bitter cocoa, dried porcini mushrooms, and tanned leather.

Importer: The winery has NO website, but they do have facebook and Instagram.  With few importers as the production is so tiny, there is so little out there available about them.

Giovanna Maccario is the daughter of one the pioneers of viticulture in Western Liguria, already bottling Rossese wines in the early seventies.

Twenty years ago Giovanna began taking care of the vineyards and cellar located in the township of San Biagio della Cima, in the heart of the Dolceacqua district, nestled in-between two steep valleys that lead to the Ligurian Sea, just a couple of miles away.

The vines, some of them over a hundred years old, are trained in the alberello system (Provençal bush-vines) and are planted at such incline that no mechanized work is possible. All the tending and the harvesting are done by hand.

The vineyards are small plots within a short distance from each other but have a very different terroir and this prompted Giovanna to vinify and bottle each cru separately, each offering a unique character. All are vinified in stainless steel in order to keep intact the delicate personality of the Rossese grape. The Luvaira vineyard has some vines that were planted as far as 1890, amongst the oldest surviving in the whole of Italy, producing a wine with high alcohol tenor, high acidity and spicy character. The Posau vineyard gives the wines a more open aromatic and floral quality, forward and seductive.

The Rossese di Dolceacqua DOC was created in 1972, until then all the wine produced in the area was sold and consumed locally, unbottled.

The Rossese varietal is genetically related to Tibouren, a grape grown in Southern France, and it is still unclear in which region it originated.
Maccario Dringenberg grows four hectares of vines and produces 23.000 bottles annually.