SEPP

Sepp is the Merlot Riserva of the Nicolussi-Leck estate — a wine of considerably greater structural ambition than the light, fresh Georg Kalterersee, featuring fruity aromas of ripe berries — blackberry and currant — and a refined spice donated by Cabernet Franc that elevates the blend above what Merlot in purity would achieve. Named for a family member in the estate's personal naming tradition, Sepp carries both the warmth of its name and the sophistication of its production.

The decision to add Cabernet Franc to the Merlot Riserva blend is a creative act of genuine intelligence — Cabernet Franc has been cultivated in the Lake Caldaro zone for over a century and in the right conditions produces wines of distinctive aromatic character: the herbaceous-violet-spice dimension that is the variety's most individual quality and that here contributes precisely the refinement of spice that the estate identifies as the wine's most distinctive aromatic note.

The seven-hundred-year farm heritage of the Nicolussi-Leck estate provides a particular context for a Merlot Riserva production: centuries of accumulated agricultural knowledge applied to a variety that arrived in the Lake Caldaro zone in the nineteenth century, interpreted through the specific mineral character of the ancient farm's soils. The gravity-assisted production of the estate — where the natural slope of the farm's topography contributes to vine processing and wine storage — adds an additional layer of naturalness to the wine's character.

Blackberry, currant, and the refined spice of Cabernet Franc: these are the aromatic notes that make Sepp one of the more genuinely sophisticated red wines in the Nicolussi-Leck range — a Merlot Riserva of real distinction from one of the most historically resonant estates in the Lake Caldaro zone.

Available through UniqueWines.