THE BARBARESCOS OF today are expressed in extremes. Some offer a more modern style of superextracted fruit and sweet toasty oak, while others are more traditional, offering accentuated tannins and more earthly olfactory sensations. Albino Rocca’s Barbaresco Vigneto Brich Ronchi is the perfect marriage and balance of these expressions.
The history of the Rocca family is similar to that of many other winemaking families in Piemonte. They started off as contadini (farmers who sold their grapes to bottlers or cooperatives) and over the course of a few decades came to be known as some of the world’s greatest winemakers. Albino Rocca is the head of the operation as we know it today. Before him, however, came both his father and his grandfather, who cultivated grapes and other fruit that was sold at the local market or kept for self-consumption. Albino deserves the credit for expanding the farm and for allowing his son, Angelo, to continue growing and evolving the winery through the 1990s. It was during this period that the major change occurred. Riding in the wake of the other great nebbiolisti (nebbiolo grape growers) of the Langa, Angelo started down a path of conceptual and material renovation, beginning with the vineyard, then moving to the cellar, and eventually arriving at a new vision of the market and the company’s image. Angelo remembers the first prunings of the vines well, and he still talks about it today as a both a physical and psychological “cut” (green harvest) with the past. His decision to restrict production resulted in healthier, fuller, richer grapes.
In the cellar, however, Angelo was not overtaken by the mania of modernity. Although he did decide to use barriques, which round out and soften the rigid tannins of the nebbiolo grapes destined to become Barbaresco, he never denounced tradition or the tie with the noble values of yesteryear. Angelo, for example, never stopped using botti grandi (large oak casks), the quintessential element of old-school red wines, which bring out the essence of nebbiolo: tobacco, tar, and notes of the forest bed. His decision not to take either road exclusively ultimately led to wines of great balance. He himself is an emblem of this balance between tradition and modernity, customs and experimentation, a sense of limits and the continuous growth into new markets and outlets. Another word describing Angelo is “elegance.” His two very well-known Barbarescos—Vigneto Brich Ronchi and Vigneto Loreto—are a perfect equilibrium of power, coming from the nebbiolo grape and style and from Angelo’s hand in every phase of the winemaking process. Then nature adds her part, giving the wines from this property very robust and decisive, yet refined and almost silky, notes. Today the Albino Rocca winery produces a little over 100,000 bottles a year, most of which are red. In addition to the nebbiolo-based wines, Rocca makes a distinctive Barbera and Dolcetto. The winery has also experimented in white wines, including chardonnay and moscato, a symbolic variety of the Monferrato hills that begin just a few miles above Barbaresco.
The Albino Rocca winery is located in the comune of Barbaresco, not far from the ancient tower that looks down on the Tanaro River and is the sentinel of perhaps the most famous and most beautiful vineyards in Italy. The landscape is unique: The land is literally covered in vineyards that follow the wavy line of the hills that open up onto numerous natural amphitheaters, basins, and valleys. The undulation allows for cold air to pass across the land, creating many diverse microclimates. Barbaresco is one of three comuni in the Barbaresco denomination. Barbaresco alone covers almost half the entire wine production area. The comune is known for having “created” the wine to which it has lent its name, thanks to the Produttori del Barbaresco cooperative. For historical, cultural, and environmental reasons, this area of the Langa is one of the most prestigious outposts of regional and national viticulture. The presence of many noble wineries and the dynamic promotion of the Barbaresco brand has made the area a true sanctuary for serious wine lovers.
Barbaresco Vigneto Brich Ronchi—together with the other Angelo Rocca Barbaresco cru, Vigneto Loreto—is the shining star and most award-winning wine of the cellar. The grapes for this wine come from a swatch of land located directly under the Rocca family farmhouse, on the eastern side of the main hill that cuts across the comune of Barbaresco from east to west. The sun exposure, like the soil, is fairly homogenous, facing east to slightly southeast. Traditionally, this vineyard has produced very interesting wines, characterized by their profound aromas, good structure, and elegance. In the case of Brich Ronchi, the grapes, which come from a forty-year-old vineyard, never yield more than 5,300 pounds per acre and are regularly harvested at the end of September. The fermentation and maceration occur in stainless steel and normally last four to five days in a temperature-controlled environment. The wine is aged for eighteen months, half in barriques (50 percent new, 50 percent used) and half in 2,000-liter barrels. The result is wine with a deep and alive ruby/granite red color and notes of spices, tobacco, black fruit, and leather on the nose. In the mouth, it seduces with its soft tannins, balances with strong structure and, at the end, the sensation of length and harmony.
ALONG WITH being one of the greatest wines of Italy, Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva is also one of the most important because it captures the evolution of the process and business of winemaking in the region of Piemonte, and in the specific area of Alba.
Bruno Giacosa, with his reserved character and perfect manners, is truly adored by his fans. They love him for his style, his history, and the place he carved out for himself in the wine world. Son of a grape broker from Neive, young Bruno spent his childhood on long walks with his father through the vineyards of Barolo and Barbaresco, acquiring with time an unparalleled knowledge of the Langa territory. When he took over the family business in 1960, Bruno found himself in possession of a well-established and diffused wine brand. The Giacosa family was known for being able to purchase the best grape lots on the market. During the 1950s and 1960s, in a time when winemaking was a very different business, the financial and personal relationships between farmers and brokers was paramount in the quest to make great wine. This was the real balancing point of the entire economic system of the Langa region.
For decades, high in the sunny slopes of the hills between Barolo and La Morra, Serralunga and Monforte, Barbaresco and Neive, the wine industry was polarized between an army of owners of small vineyards who did not have the means and skills necessary to turn grapes into wine, and a few bottlers who were usually expert, shrewd men who knew the territory and would comb the farms looking for the best grapes to take back to their cellars, turn into wine, and sell. On the market, the grapes of Alba, the capital of the Langa, became legendary. The area was considered to be overflowing with precious bunches of nebbiolo, barbera, and dolcetto grapes just waiting to be bought. However, the farmers often had to wait and pray that their grapes would sell for a good price. Sometimes they were disappointed, especially when they had to return home with unsold grapes that risked going bad and becoming unusable.
In this environment, Bruno Giacosa was able to carve out a position for himself as the go-to man: His respect for the work of others, combined with his determination to produce memorable wines, allowed him to gain the trust of the owners of the top crus in Barbaresco and Barolo. His unique position shielded him—at least in part—from the great changes of the 1970s. In that decade, and even more so in the following one, a large number of farmers began to vinify their own grapes, opening tiny cellars, first producing demijohns and then moving on to bottle their own wines. The immediate consequence was an unanticipated shortage of quality grapes for the brokers, who were therefore forced to take a different approach, often purchasing land rather than grapes. Giacosa did not miss a beat and bought vineyards in areas like Asili, Rabajà (Barbaresco), and Falletto (part of Barolo), which were already considered famous, but were made legendary under Giacosa. However, Bruno Giacosa has remained almost the only winemaker in Piemonte who is still able to make great wines with other people’s grapes. The faith and respect that small, longtime growers have for Bruno has allowed him to continue to acquire grapes from fantastic vineyards, like the cru of Santo Stefano di Neive. In fact, his Barbaresco Santo Stefano is certainly one of the most admired wines in the entire Italian landscape. The attributes of this wine are a mirror reflection of the genius this man embodied. The wine is a perfect, unmatched blend of knowledge of the land, experience, and technical ability. As an example of his gentle and generous disposition, when Giacosa was asked why he decided to stop purchasing the top vineyards in the Langa, he said, “Because they didn’t want to sell!”
Another striking characteristic of Bruno Giacosa and his company is the extraordinary, and to some degree incomprehensible, ease with which he is able to make excellent wines in both Barbaresco and Barolo. The best explanation for Giacosa’s success in both regions is an understanding of the terroir—or rather terroirs—that is timeless and trendless. Although wine lovers and producers alike often debate whether Giacosa is more of a barbareschista or more barolista, he is better described as a poet, an entrepreneur, and a leader who never ran after the quick buck or chased easy money. Among his many achievements, he has discovered the elegance of the Asili cru, exalted the harmony of Rabajà, given a name to Falletto, captured the greatness of the vines of Serralunga, vinified (until 1993) the grapes of the Rionda vineyard, and become a legend. In fact, Santo Stefano is known more for the forty harvests with which Giacosa defined his character and personal style than for the vineyard’s ideal combination of altitude, exposure, and morphology. It is a rare example of how humans can in no way take the place of nature but can be its best ally when human talent matches the excellence of the land.
The production of Santo Stefano is heavily informed by traditional winemaking in the Langa: Giacosa subscribes to long aging in large Slavonian oak casks, harvests as late as the end of November, and very long maceration times. Despite all this, he is rarely drawn into the debate between the so-called traditionalists and modernists: It is as if his wines are almost beyond categorization, unclassifiable jewels of the earth and human know-how. Barbaresco Santo Stefano—which is part of the “Bruno Giacosa” line along with his other wines that are made from grapes he buys (while Barbaresco Asili and Barolo Falletto are part of his “Azienda Agricola Falletto”)—is an expression of elegance and power, refinement and muscle. The wine is complex and original, year after year. In the top vintages, and only then, is the wine aged further and given the Riserva status. These are bottles known for their extraordinary propensity for longevity. Few wines in Italy age as long—and as well—as Bruno Giacosa’s, his Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva in particular. It is a characteristic of a true gift of nature and of this man who has made history with the land.
This is a sweet and balanced Barbaresco of great harmony and powerful extraction. Notes of tar, cherries, and damp forest give way to elegant velvet tannins that persist and resonate on the palate. Earthy minerality and firm structure will give this wine a long life to live.
THE UNCOMPROMISED PURITY of Mascarello’s Barolo reflects the life he lived. As in life, truth in wine is to be lauded and savored. There are few wines that speak so truthfully as this Barolo.
Born in Barolo in 1926, Bartolo grew up in the shadow of his charismatic and highly esteemed father, Giulio Mascarello. Giulio’s life could have been taken right out of an early twentieth-century novel. He spent his youth working in a bottega in Genova. He supported the socialist movement and labor unions (leghe operaie). He left his homeland during World War I but returned to the Langa, ultimately making a revolutionary decision in 1920 to open a small winery that would later produce wine only from his own grapes.
Blessed with a strong personality and a deep curiosity for life, young Bartolo quickly learned to carve out a place for himself within the family and his hometown, taking after his father. Bartolo developed a deep sense of civil duty, thanks to his encounters with some of the most famous intellectual thinkers of the time. (His father was a personal friend of philosophers like Norberto Bobbio; publishers and politicians like Luigi Einaudi, who later became president of the Italian Republic; working writers; and internationally renowned painters, partisans, and dissidents.)
Within this complex network of friends, interests, and relationships, Bartolo never lost sight of his life’s goal: to make an excellent Barolo, following the most strict traditions of the Langa while respecting the rhythms of the earth and never tampering with seasonality or nature. Bartolo was able to accomplish his goal at a time when Barolo was not yet considered the “King of Wines.” His greatest achievement, however, was to maintain a standard and an unchanging style, even in the years when Barolo became the cult wine of wine lovers throughout the world. It would have been all too easy for him to succumb to the market preferences and increased revenues, but he would have had to alter the soul of his product, which he was never willing to do.
Bartolo aged his wine only in large casks, rejecting the “trend” of using the smaller barriques. He began doing so in the 1960s, when he first started working with his father in the cellar, and he continued to do so until the end of his days. He started blending grapes from different vineyards from the very beginning of his career and continued to do so until his very last harvest (when everyone else was marching to the beat of the “cru”). Uncompromising, above all to himself, Bartolo was dedicated to protecting the identity of his wine and of his land. He was a proud opponent of Hollywood-style wines and the colossal wineries that were sprouting up in Piemonte, riding the wave of success and new-found wealth. Bartolo remained faithful to his history and his ethics. Even his bottles are, as they are adorned with cunning and brilliant labels designed by Bartolo as an older man, and on which he enjoyed making fun of the vices and hypocrisies of our time: His famous label/manifesto “No barrique, no Berlusconi,” intended to amuse his friends and fellow wine drinkers, became a resistance cry for everything that, according to Bartolo, was insubstantial, fashionable, and trite. This was Bartolo Mascarello. He was met with great opponents during his lifetime, people bothered by his extreme positions, which were, more important, consistent with his lifestyle. Today, years after his passing in 2005, the entire wine world recognizes that he was an example of virtue and of rare, farsighted intelligence.
There is a whole lot of Langa in the wines of Bartolo Mascarello. He always refused to give up the custom of blending grapes and never changed his formula for “sewing” together in a single bottle (or under a single label) grapes coming from all his vineyards. According to his parents and grandparents, this system allowed for more consistent results, especially when a specific vineyard was weakened by drought, hail, or disease. His father, Giulio, founded the winery in the 1930s, and it remained unchanged: He purchased a few acres in Barolo in the areas of Cannubi, San Lorenzo, and Ruè, adding to them a small estate in La Morra, in the area called Torriglione. Of these four vineyards, all with excellent exposure, the first, Cannubi, is possibly the most famous vineyard in Italy (and certainly the one able to fetch the highest prices for its grapes and the wine produced with them). Located on a gentle hill at the entrance to Barolo, the Cannubi vineyard precedes the birth of the Barolo wine, having been listed on a bottle made in 1752. About 37 acres, the vineyard was traditionally subdivided among various wineries that occupied small or very small areas and used the precious grapes to cut or blend with grapes from lesser vineyards.
Tradition, austerity, and consistency are the three keys to understanding the mysterious product that is Barolo by Bartolo Mascarello. It is a wine that has remained unchanged since its birth. It is a wine made from grapes harvested at their perfect ripeness on each plot of land (despite being mere miles apart, Bartolo’s vineyards have different characteristics and vegetative cycles); long maceration; aging exclusively in large casks; skillful and calibrated blending and co-fermenting. Wines that are labeled Bartolo Mascarello are not only good or extraordinary, they have a timeless draw that comes from the exact replication of the wine of the nature of the land from which it originates. These wines are strongly linked to the territory and are therefore “imperfect.” By that, I mean that they are not easy or immediate like so many modern wines, but eventually they mature and develop like thoroughbreds, able to astonish you because they are different from everything else—they are unique and unrepeatable. There was a time when Bartolo Mascarello’s wines were singled out as the leader of the traditionalist movement, contrary to the modernist winemaking style with short macerations and a short time in barriques. Having fortunately surpassed this period—which served more for writing newspaper articles and generating fierce competition among Italian wines—today his wines are made with a serene spirit. Thanks to his wife, Franca, and daughter, Maria Teresa, Bartolo’s work and mission live on passionately.
Mascarello’s Barolo is simultaneously expressive and elusive. It is a wine that gives earth, tar, and leather on the nose, with an explosion of tart cherries and stone fruit on the palate. The wine echoes and resonates in the mouth with a profound, vibrating finish.
LIKE A power slugger for the New York Yankees, Voerzio’s Barolos command some of the highest prices because they are consistently hit out of the park. We are talking about full-throttle, loaded wines that carry oak and fruit with structure and power to spare.
Roberto Voerzio is one of the most powerful names in the Italian wine world. His name has grown stronger over time; he has progressively become a so-called international icon of the modern style of Piemontese winemaking. Born into a family of generations-old farmers, Roberto began making wine in 1986 together with his brother Gianni, who is now the owner of his own winery. The brothers had a difficult start: That year in Italy, the methanol scandal broke out, and some bottlers in Piemonte were accused of adulterating their wine with excessive amounts of methanol to increase the alcohol content, resulting in methanol poisonings and twenty-six deaths. The brothers were never accused of practicing this method, but it proved to be a difficult time to start their enterprise.
Roberto Voerzio, along with his many colleagues, set off on a decade-long journey that would propel them to the stage of Europe’s greatest winemakers. These young pioneers of new Piemontese winemaking set their sights on Europe, in particular France, which they watched with extreme interest. They began to visit winemakers in Burgundy who had built their fame on the “evolution of tradition,” creating new farming and vinification techniques that were able to bring out the most from the land and its original characteristics. By the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, Roberto Voerzio—who dreamt of creating great red wines like Vosne-Romanée, Nuits-Saint-Georges, and Beaune in the Langa—began applying what he’d learned abroad on the vineyards of his own hometown, La Morra.
I would not be writing about Roberto Voerzio if it were not for the fortunate fact that he was born and raised in the Langa, more specifically in La Morra, a mosaic of unrivaled grand crus unlike any other in Italy. Since the dawn of winemaking in this region, La Morra has been synonymous with Barolo wine. The town is located on top of a 1,606-foot hill. Bricco del Dente is the highest hill in the area, and it protects the vineyards below from the cold alpine winds. The cru itself is astonishing and is, without a doubt, one of the most dramatic landscapes in the world. In this context—and only in this context—have Voerzio and his fellow winemakers been able to raise the bar in terms of quality winemaking. Two of Roberto Voerzio’s “super vineyards” are Cerequio and Brunate. Cerequio is an incredible 47-acre plot divided among numerous producers and able to make very structured and tannin-rich wine. Brunate is a 62-acre vineyard with various exposures, cut off from Cerequio by a little river; the grapes of this vineyard produce some of the most well-balanced and most complex red wines in Piemonte.
Yet, to produce truly great wine from this land, Voerzio had to modify tradition and introduce foreign, yet proven, winemaking practices that he had observed in the cellars of Burgundy and that contributed to the legendary reputation of Burgundian wines. Roberto Voerzio worked with small parcels of collective nebbiolo vineyards in some of the most famous Barolo crus (Brunate, Cerequio, and La Serra, followed by Rocche dell’Annunziatal Torriglione Capalot, and Sarmassa di Barolo). He planted these areas very densely, 4,000 plants per acre, and began pruning the bunches when the grapes were nearly ripe, reducing the yield from 4,500 pounds to 3,600, to even 2,700 pounds per acre. His actions in the vineyards had a multitude of strong effects: The density of the vines caused the plants to root deeper into the earth to compete with other nearby vines for water and nutrients; the pruning caused the grapes left on the vine to plump up and become concentrated with aromatic and flavor substances that would otherwise have been distributed among a larger amount of fruit. Lower yields, and therefore lower production, led to bottles of higher quality and rarity, fetching significantly higher prices.
Roberto Voerzio has become the undisputed standard bearer because of his uncompromisingly focused approach to winemaking, making cru Barolos with his unmistakable style of richness, concentration, and balance. In recent years, he has brought the same passion and technique to Langa’s more accessible wines, including Dolcetto. Yet even with an everyday wine, the impact of Roberto’s style and his vision for the product are unmistakable in the glass. His ability to reinterpret the great traditions and techniques of French winemaking at the highest level and to efficiently apply them to contemporary Piemontese winemaking illustrates his capacity to look into the future by studying the past. Even as a devout Barolo traditionalist, I have nothing but the greatest respect and admiration for the power and impact of Roberto’s wines.
In the cellar, Voerzio works quite simply to bring out what is already captured inside the grapes. The maceration times are very short; the time spent in the barriques, on the other hand, can be very long. But as Voerzio loves to say, the use of small casks is simply the answer to a logistical and organizational need created by the small spaces for moving around in the cellar and, especially, to the need to manage and manipulate the quality and style presented by each individual microvineyard. For these reasons, toasty notes never dominate Voerzio’s wines: What stands out is the extraordinary richness of the grapes themselves, a concentration of fruit that can be found in few wines and a sturdy structure that Roberto is able to keep at bay with the elegance of the wine. The wine is not always miraculous, but when it is, its elegance and body carry its magnificence. However, with Voerzio, the outcome is always impressive.
Barolo Brunate stands out because of its rich extract and concentration. Its powerful nose is dominated by dry flowers, black licorice, leather, box spices, and a stand-out vanilla tone. Toasty sensations are apparent, but never dominate because of the constantly surging fruit. On the palate the wine is a powerhouse, yet it is also round and soft. Though in an “off” vintage this wine can lack some finesse, a wine from a good year delivers on all levels.
BAROLO LE COSTE is a trip through history in a bottle. Giuseppe Rinaldi brings his family tradition and the history of Barolo to every bottle of this rare cru. Traditional farming and vinification create a wine with notes of cherry brandy, licorice, and tar. Barolo Brunate–Le Coste is a wine that brings us to another time.
Giuseppe Rinaldi is essential to the image and essence of classical Barolo. If you are lucky enough to visit his house/cellar, located on the old road leading from Barolo to Monforte, you will encounter one of the authentic, lively spirits of the Langa. Veterinarian turned enologist, Giuseppe is reknowned for his classic storytelling and his categorical knowledge of every cru in Barolo. He animates the legend and history of these fabled hills in the way he lives his life and makes his wines. With his cousin Maria Teresa Mascarello, daughter of the legendary Bartolo (see this page), and with the late Teobaldo Cappellano, a similarly spirited producer, he embodies, protects, and continues to proliferate what is traditional, classical, and old-world in making Italy’s, and perhaps the world’s, greatest red wine.
Giuseppe Rinaldi is a champion of traditional winemaking, thanks to the tutelage of his father, Battista, one of the most historically significant people in the Langa. In 1947, at the age of twenty-nine, Battista took over the reins of the winery from his father, who was one of the most respected people in Barolo for his high moral standards, serving as mayor of the town from 1970 to 1975. Under the leadership of Battista’s father, the picturesque castle that dominates the town center was purchased by the city and converted into the first Regional Enoteca (wine-tasting store sponsored by the denomination) of the denomination, with Battista as its first president. Battista’s father was also lucky to have in his property some of the best vineyards planted with nebbiolo. The names of these legendary areas include Brunate, Le Coste, Ravera, Cannubi, and San Lorenzo.
In the tradition of his father, Battista vinified the crus separately and with different techniques. The Brunate, considered the best cru, was made into a Riserva and left to rest for ten years before being released. The others contributed to the base Barolo of the cantina. When Giuseppe started to work side by side with his father, Battista, he embraced the successful tradition of Barolo, though he did propose a change that was made in 1993: The categories of Riserva and base Barolo were eliminated, and two wines were made based on their respective crus. Brunate and Le Coste created one Barolo (10,000 bottles), and the other, no less important, came from grapes grown in the Cannubi San Lorenzo and Ravera (3,500 bottles). Giuseppe’s one change turned out to be a recalibration that brought success and notoriety to the winery. Since this major change, production has stayed the same; trends and fashions in the cellar and in the world have little influence on Giuseppe’s philosophy. Often found with an unlit Toscano cigar dangling from his lips, Giuseppe is a classicist and collector of sixties-era mopeds. His wine and his life are strongly linked to Italian tradition.
Giuseppe lives in Le Coste, one of the two crus that make up Brunate–Le Coste Barolo. The rows of vines are planted directly below his house, which was built in the early 1900s. Le Coste is a highly regarded cru in Barolo and benefits from a climate similar to that of Cannubi, the other legendary Barolo cru. Covering 10 acres of land—only a part of which is owned by Giuseppe—Le Coste has an average altitude of 1,000 feet. Brunate, on the other hand, has few equals and is one of the most celebrated vineyards in the Langa and perhaps in all of Italy. At the border of the comuni of La Morra and Barolo, this land has a history that dates back to the fifteenth century. Documents held in the La Morra city archives refer to the denomination as Brinatum, and in nineteenth-century texts, the area is called Brinate. Only in the last century did it become known as Brunate, a grand cru coveted by many Piemontese winemakers. The vines get excellent south-southeastern exposure and the altitude of the land varies from 780 to 1,200 feet, covering a total of 62 acres. The wines that are produced from this vineyard are particularly well balanced between the aroma and structure. Giuseppe Rinaldi is able to pay great attention to his small properties, using chemicals sparingly and truly caring for the soil—facts that clearly contribute to the greatness of his wines. The combination of grapes from these two areas makes for a fiercely territorial wine.
In the Rinaldi household and winery, tradition is like a second religion. Human intervention in the cellar is limited to the bare minimum, allowing for the true essence of the nebbiolo to shine through. After a long period of maceration, the wine is transferred into large Slavonian oak barrels, which are racked after thirty-six months. During this period, the wine gains roundness and equilibrium of tannins. There are no shortcuts to Giuseppe’s objectives with this wine; it is made using a completely natural process that is curated by nature, and no interventions like small barrels and other products interfere whatsoever. Brunate–Le Coste Barolo is a long-lived wine that should be cellared for over a decade, depending on the vintage.
In the decanter and glass, this wine can be shy and needs the coaxing of time and air to present itself. The color of the wine is that of a classic nebbiolo: light red and very inviting. The nose gives classic notes of dry roses, raspberries, and violets to white tobacco. On the palate, the tannins are robust and precise. The wine is juicy and rich of extraction. It has an extremely long and entrancing finish.
IT WAS the summer of 1990. I sat on a box of wine with Luciano Sandrone in his garage as we prepared to taste his Barolo with Castelmagno, the legendary high-pasture cow-milk cheese from the area. Sandrone was a new producer with lofty ambitions who always took the time to share some Barolo and his vision with young wine lovers thirsting for knowledge. At that moment Sandrone’s wines were already creating quite a stir in the local scene, but two futures were launched on that fateful day. For Luciano, the 1989 Cannubi Boschis had finished its fermentation and had begun developing in the cellar, and the 1990 vintage was reaching perfection in the vineyards that surrounded the garage. These two wines would go on to become legendary and would propel Luciano Sandrone into the ranks of the great modern barolisti. For myself, as I sat in the dark garage listening to the passionate words of Luciano, drinking Barolo and eating this cheese, I was overcome with a sense of clarity and purpose. At that moment I knew that I would spend the rest of my life working in food and wine.
After having worked in a number of cellars in Barolo, in 1978 Sandrone decided to start producing his own wine. He made only 1,500 bottles, which he presented to the market with some hesitancy at Vinitaly in 1981. His wines were immediately well received, and thus he began a career that would lead him to the top of the Italian wine world. Luciano is very timid and would have never imagined the wild success of his 1985 vintage Barolo Cannubi Boschis, which is made from a 5-acre vineyard located in one of the most famous crus of the Langa. Even today, this Barolo is considered one of the “great ones” and a resounding example of Barolo at its greatest.
Cannubi is without a doubt the most celebrated vineyard in Barolo. There is even a bottle from 1752 with the word “Cannubi” written on the label, produced in a time when the name “Barolo” was practically unknown. In recent decades, the fame and prestige of this cru has never waned. As a result, people started buying up parcels of the vineyard, causing real estate prices to skyrocket. In the past, grape farmers used to love the Cannubi hill because the grapes cultivated there would maintain quality, even in difficult years. Cannubi vineyards, located at the center of the comune of Barolo, benefit from pebble-rich soil, which produces good results in both rainy and dry years. But now the fame of this cru has become so widespread that nearby vineyards have adopted the Cannubi name as well. For example, Renato Ratti, a winemaker and the first expert to have mapped the cru of the Langa, renamed the area of Monghisolfo “Cannubi Boschis” to play off the success of the cru. It is this historic terroir that gives life to Luciano’s Cannubi Boschis Barolo.
Much has been written about Luciano Sandrone’s Barolo in an attempt to capture the essence of this elusive wine. Luciano’s wines are neither modern nor traditional; they are simply the wines of Luciano Sandrone. His personal winemaking and aging techniques are difficult to categorize. His maceration times are fairly long, something typical of traditional winemaking, but he is untraditional in his decision not to use large wooden barrels for aging. Instead, he uses classic 500-liter tonneaux made of slightly toasted wood, giving his Barolo notes of coffee or chocolate.
Sandrone’s wines tend to emphasize balance and elegance over tannins and an excessively muscular structure. They are the reflection of grapes from one of the oldest, most classic crus of Barolo. The nose of a young Cannubi Boschis is decidedly fruity, yet delicate and never too sweet. The aromas vary from raspberry to cherry, with notes of red currant and blueberry. With age, this wine develops notes of violet and dry fruit, in addition to leather and tobacco. In the mouth, the tannins are not overwhelming, but add to the wine, giving it a longer finish.
DEEPLY DEDICATED to traditional winemaking practices, Elio Grasso has developed magnificent wines by delicately utilizing touches of modern techniques in his otherwise faithfully old-world production. Beautifully expressive, his wines demonstrate the finesse of this legendary winemaker.
Until the beginning of the 1980s, the Langa hills were known as a very poor area of Italy. Even though Piemonte, compared with other Italian regions, went through one of the strongest phases of industrialization at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Langa hills area did not profit from this growth. The majority of young people left their homes and agricultural lifestyle in the hills for Torino in search of fortune, called by the sirens of megaindustrial plants like Fiat. Few decided to stay in the Langa. One who did was Elio Grasso, whose family owned various acres of land in one of the most beautiful parts of Monforte.
Since 1978, the first year Elio Grasso released his two Barolos, the Langa area has changed completely. A wine boom ensued and caught local inhabitants completely off guard. They were not capable of anticipating the wave of prosperity and wealth that wine would bring to these once sullen and always challenging hills. Over the course of only two decades, the number of acres under vine doubled, imbalancing the ecosystem and destroying most of the forests, which are home to the prized white truffle. The winemakers went from being seen as farmers to being thought of as artisans: artists of the bottle. As soon as the money started rolling in, people began expanding their homes and building larger and more impressive cellars. The local landscape changed radically, with various consequences. There are limitless examples of wineries disproportionate to the number of bottles they actually produce, in contrast to Burgundy, where the vignerons remain proud and true to their old cellars, often very humble and rustic. In Piemonte, however, winemakers started investing in technologies to make great Barolos and expanding their production areas, with the unfortunate result of lesser-quality wines.
Despite such dramatic changes and uncontrolled growth, there are, however, some examples of virtuous winemaking. Elio Grasso, for example, decided not to add on externally to his cellar, but to dig a tunnel deep into the rock behind his house, creating space for the barriques and large oak barrels that he uses for his wine. A huge undertaking, it was an equally important investment. The tunnel is more than 330 feet long and has become a proud addition to the family holdings, guided by the steady hand of Elio, his wife, Marina, and their young son, Gianluca. Elio Grasso is a living statement to the merit of prudence and humility, even in the face of great prosperity. Swimming against the tide, he understood that great architectural monuments don’t necessarily make great wine, but that embodying the spirit of old-world tradition and technique will ultimately bring forth the greatest results in the bottle.
In France, and particularly in the top winemaking regions like Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Champagne, the best vineyards are identified and classified by legislation, each as its own cru. This rigorous and precise classification occurred 150 years ago. In Italy, and in particular in Piemonte, there is no official classification system. However, since 2009, the Consorzio di Tutela del Barolo e del Barbaresco has been working to classify the top nebbiolo grape vineyards. Once the research has been completed, the Ginestra and Gavarini vineyards, areas where Grasso owns some of the best plots, will be known as two of the top crus of the entire Barolo production area.
Ginestra is a vast vineyard spread across about 37 acres positioned at an altitude of between 900 and 1,400 feet. In addition to Elio Grasso, some of the other important winemakers owning property in Ginestra are Domenico Clerico, Paolo Conterno, and Renzo Seghesio. Although the producers have very different styles, the wines from Ginestra all have similar and recognizable characteristics: strong herbal notes, extreme longevity, and great flavor potential.
Elio Grasso has always been faithful to himself and his ideas. He has never been attracted by convenience or ease. His two Barolos, Gavarini and Ginestra, always have been made using traditional methods, with a pinch of the right kind of innovation. His fermentation times are usually fairly long—from sixteen to eighteen days—and go against the new winemaking trends in the Langa. Grasso does not, for example, use rotofermentors that reduce the time the must sits on the skins—in extreme cases down to as few as forty-eight hours.
In the past, Gianluca Grasso, with the complete consent of his father, created a special selection of Barolo called Rüncot that was well received by the public, and especially by the Italian and foreign press. Compared with Grasso’s other Barolos that are aged in large, 2,500-liter Slavonian oak barrels, this wine spends twenty-four months in barriques. The last vintage released was 2001; however, the 2004 is now available as a Riserva. This wine is an exception in the otherwise fairly traditional Grasso winery, known for its more classic, terroir-driven nebbiolo wines that are powerful and rich in tannins.
Barolo Ginestra Casa Maté has perfumes of violet and cherry, with an elegant and attractive undercurrent of mint. In the mouth, it is rich with a good structure and soft tannins, and worth exploring. A wine of great aging potential, elegance, and complexity, Barolo Ginestra Vigna Casa Maté will continue to deliver for years to come.
AT SLOW FOOD’S Salone del Gusto food and wine event in Torino in 2006, Aldo Conterno received a standing ovation when one thousand vignerons chose Barolo Gran Bussia Riserva 1989 as the best wine ever to be featured in the Slow Food/Gambero Rosso Italian Wines guide, then celebrating its twentieth anniversary. The vintage belies the theory that a truly great Barolo can only come from a single vineyard, as in the case of Gran Bussia, grapes from a variety of sites give the wine its unique character, personality, and style.
Piemonte’s Langa hills are famous the world over for their great wines, but they have also been the scene of events that have shaped the course of modern Italian history. Recently, an enological revolution has turned this once depressed farming area into the new El Dorado of winemaking. One of the men behind the transformation is Aldo Conterno, whose winery is now one of the brightest stars in the Italian wine firmament. Some of his labels, such as Colonnello, Cicala, and Gran Bussia, are universally acknowledged as synonymous with class and excellence.
Born in 1931, Aldo, as a child, was exposed to the tragedy of war, the hills around his native village of Monforte being the theater of much bloody fighting. In those tough times, land was worth little and wine even less. It was only thanks to the indomitable spirit and farsightedness of Aldo’s father, Giacomo, a formidable grape selector, that the Conterno family managed to scrape through that long period of privation, then reconstruction. In the early 1950s, the young Aldo tried to make a new life for himself in California, a land of promise and prosperity. In tow of an enterprising uncle of his, he set up one of the early wineries in the Napa Valley. The venture would likely have proved a success, but it came to a sudden end when the uncle died. After being called up by the U.S. Army and sent to fight in Korea, Aldo had no one left to go home to in the States, so he decided to return to the countryside of Piemonte. From that moment on, his rise to the top was unstoppable. Back in Monforte, he started from scratch, running his father’s winery in partnership with his brother Giovanni. Then, in 1969, Aldo opened a nearby winery of his own. In 1970, he marketed the first version of Barolo Gran Bussia, a selection of the company’s finest grapes. In more recent times, true to the old adage that it’s best to retire at the top, he has gradually handed the business over to his children. Even behind the scenes, though, Aldo Conterno remains a charismatic figure and a repository of the art of Langa winemaking.
The Barolo DOCG zone area extends over eleven comuni in southern Piemonte, just south of the city of Alba. Aldo Conterno’s winery and vineyards are situated in the comune of Monforte, which, together with that of Serralunga, is where the really big, bold Barolos are produced. Here, the sandstone-rich soil gives the nebbiolo grape massive tannins and structure. The valley of Bussia in the western part of the comune, overlooking the village of Barolo itself, is where Aldo Conterno’s most prestigious vineyards—Cicala, Colonnello, Romirasco, and Bussia Soprana—are located. All the wines from the different plots share the same fresh, intense scents.
In 1970, Aldo Conterno decided to produce Gran Bussia, the fruit of a painstaking selection of the grapes from vineyards he already owned in the area. Since then, every great vintage has been given recognition with the label, and the term Gran Bussia has now come to stand for a sort of seal of excellence, a “denomination within the denomination.” The Bussia cru stands at an altitude of 980 to 1,150 feet above sea level and enjoys perfect southeast to south-southwest exposure and minimal wind—all factors that ensure the consistent high quality of the grape blends used to make the wine.
Bottled only in years deemed exceptional, Gran Bussia goes onto the market no earlier than six years after the grape harvest. Insofar as it’s aged for thirty-six months in large Slavonian oak barrels, Barolo Gran Bussia counts as a great traditional wine. But stylewise it’s timeless, at once inimitably classical, a wine of the future, and much more. You should never expect to come across two identical or even similar Gran Bussias. The basic breakdown of the cru sites from which the wine is sourced is Romirasco 70 percent, Cicala 15 percent, and Colonnello 15 percent, but the final blend all depends on the enologist’s flair and the weather during the year. Whatever blend, Barolo Gran Bussia typically has earthy scents of truffle with notes of hazelnut and violet and an increasingly plush, velvety bouquet on aging.
FONTANAFREDDA AND Barolo Lazzarito are a winery and a wine that recount the story of the birth of Italy as a nation. Among the oldest branded wineries to produce Barolo, Fontanafredda was pivotal in thrusting Piemonte—and specifically the area of Alba—into the limelight and placing it among the greatest viticulture production areas in the world.
Although Toscana is Italy’s most famous region (at least to Americans), Piemonte certainly offers the greatest experience to those who love to eat and drink. The wine and food of Peimonte, and specifically of the Langa Hills around Alba, are rooted in the area’s history. Not only is there a rich peasant tradition of hunting and foraging, but these hills were also once home to dukes, lords, and even kings under the house of Savoy. Whereas the majority of Italian regional food developed from the peasant class, this area give birth to a cuisine fit for royal manors and noble banquets. The wealth and refined taste of the local gentry fostered the emergence of a more distinguished local cuisine. The finest local ingredients—such as rare game birds, ethereal white truffles, and exotic wild mushrooms—were combined with practiced cookery methods to create a new cucina alta, or high cuisine. With a well-financed demand for quality food, the Piemontese naturally sought out more dinstinguished and rarefied wines, like the ones they had tasted while traveling across the border to visit relatives in France. Fortunately, the vineyards that covered the hills around their castles contained what is perhaps the most noble varietal in the world: nebbiolo. Refined palates, swollen purses, and the great nebbiolo grape propelled the entire Alba wine production area, and specifically the comuni of Barolo, to the stage of great European wine production.
In 1858, Fontanafredda became the private estate of Victor Emmanuel II, King of Sardinia. The 250-acre estate was used as his private hunting lodge before being transformed into a viticultural estate in the 1870s. Most famous for his role in leading the Resorgimento (unification of Italy), Victor Emmanuel was fond of the Piemontese countryside. By handing the property over to his son, Emanuele Guerrieri—Count of Mirafiori and Fontanafredda, son of the king and his mistress, “la bella Rosina”—he facilitated the creation of the current viticultural estate. Emanuele Guerrieri started to produce important red wines and launched Fontanafredda’s great tradition of sparkling wines. His passion for agriculture and land permeated the monolithic estate, and the wines he produced garnered a reputation for quality and a deep respect for their terroir.
The Fontanafredda estate is located in the heart of the Barolo production area. The headquarters of the operation is in Serralunga d’Alba, but there are Fontanafredda vineyards in Barolo and Diano d’Alba as well. One of the rare characteristics of this winery is that the vineyards are grouped together, whereas the rest of the estates in the Langa are fragmented. Fontanafredda’s 220 acres of vineyard gently descend along the hills leading down from the estate offices—buildings that are recognizable by their characteristic yellow and red stripes. The winery is well known for its sweet moscato-based sparkling white wines, which make up a large share of the company’s profit. However, if the whites talk in terms of numbers, the red wines count in terms of quality, as many of the crus that have made Fontanafredda famous include such reds as Vigna La Rosa, Lazzarito, and Vigna la Villa.
Lazzarito is the great Barolo from the premier cru vineyard of the greatest Barolo estate of Piemonte. In the Italy we love, where simple food and wine is made by people who are close to the earth, this is a regal Barolo. The “La Delizia” vineyard, located in the heart of Serralunga, produces grapes that go into a wine that stands as a testimony to the burly massiveness of Barolo’s most powerful terroir. La Delizia has excellent exposure, and it is sheltered from the wind by a hill. The vineyard produces great results every year, with the help of the talented folks in the cellar. The resulting wine is a stellar representative of both nebbiolo and the terroir.
The grapes are then softly pressed and macerated for a short period of time to release the essence of the fruit and create a must that is rich in polyphenols and aromas. It is then aged first in large wooden barrels and then in barriques. On the nose, this wine is complex and alive, with perfumes of ripe red fruit, dried flowers, licorice, and spices. In the mouth, it is soft, almost silky, playing off the tannins and rich, extracted notes. Even though the wine is round and full-bodied, it is particularly elegant and complex. It has a very long, well-balanced finish that recalls the perfumes of the wine. With a garnet red hue slightly tinted orange at the edges, the wine is as pleasing to the eye in the glass as its elegant and complex flavors are in the mouth. With great structure and elegance, this wine is well balanced and extremely gratifying.
FOR LOVERS of red wines of the Langa, Giuseppe is known as “the other Mascarello,” in reference to Bartolo Mascarello, who passed away in 2005 (see this page). Like this unforgettable champion of traditional winemaking, the family of Giuseppe Mascarello—no relation to Bartolo—has built its own fame, harvest after harvest, decade after decade, staying faithful to classic winemaking techniques.
First, let’s get a few names straight. Bartolo Mascarello we know. Giuseppe Mascarello is the name of both the founder of the winery and of the winery itself. Giuseppe Mascarello’s family is from Monchiero (a small town located just outside the Barolo production zone) and has produced wine for almost one and a half centuries. Like all the best Piemontese traditions, this close-knit family has passed first names down from generation to generation: There is the Giueseppe Mascarello from the late nineteenth century, another who lived through most of the twentieth (the one who founded the winery), and yet another Giuseppe, son of Mauro—the figlio, or son, of Giuseppe the founder.
Mauro and his son Giuseppe are known by everyone in the Italian wine world as the standard bearers of traditional winemaking. In the case of the Mascarello wines, quality comes from the vineyard and the soil, rather than from the provenance and character of the wood in which it is aged. In fact, the Mascarello family selects barrels based on capacity and how much wine they expect to produce from the grapes from a particular vineyard each harvest. The only certainty is that their wines will not be aged in barriques. (If a smaller barrel is needed, they prefer to use old 52-liter demijohns.) The same traditional approach holds true for maceration, another fundamental step by which Langa wineries are judged as “traditional” or not. In the case of Mascarello, their wines used to macerate for sixty days, then forty, and now they are at thirty, but they are not even close to the brief maceration times of local avant-garde winemakers. Everything moves according to nature in the Mascarello cellars. Mauro will talk with visitors for hours about their 1979 Barolo Rionda, which was so lacking in color that they stopped producing it altogether. And then there was the legendary 1971 Barolo Pugnane, a rosé made using a less noble nebbiolo clone. In the end, these stories set the stage for the pride of the Mascarello family, the Monprivato cru.
Based on this exceptional vineyard, located in the town of Castiglione Falletto, the Mascarello Monprivato cru is so extraordinary that the Mascarello di Monchiero family is known among locals and winemakers as Mascarello del Monprivato. Thanks to a series of important acquisitions during the last few decades, the Mascarello family is now the sole proprietor of the entire cru (almost). They have created a rare case of a virtual monopoly in the Langa. Compared with Burgundy, where monopolies are quite common (for example, Domaine de la Romanée Conti owns the entire La Tache cru), the top vineyards in the Langa were traditionally divided among a number of winemakers. In recent years, however, individual Piemontese wineries have begun to acquire more and more parcels of a single cru with the aim of arriving at sole ownership. Along with Conterno’s Cascina Francia, Mascarello del Monprivato is the only sole owner of almost an entire cru (a small plot is owned by another farmer).
The aging cellar for Mascarello wines was carved out of an eighteenth-century building that was once used for producing and storing ice, whereas the center of wine production is a few miles away, toward the center of Barolo, where the company owns portions of the most noble and important vineyards in the entire denomination. The two towns in which the Mascarello family operates are Monforte, where the Santo Stefano di Perno vineyard is located, and Castiglione Falletto, where everything, or almost everything, revolves around Monprivato. The Mascarellos have owned a portion of the vineyard since 1904, when Maurizio, son of the first Giuseppe, bought a farmhouse on the edge of the vineyard. The family became the sole owner of the cru during the 1990s, after a series of small acquisitions from some old local farmers. Monprivato has become the symbol of the Mascarello winery and is synonymous with great Barolo (however, the family has also planted rows of barbera in the cru, with which they produce a Barbera d’Alba). At the heart of Monprivato, grapes are selected with great care and vinified separately to make the remarkable Barolo Monprivato Riserva Ca’ d’Morissio.
Since this wine is so intrinsically tied to the Monprivato cru, it is only appropriate to begin our discussion with the vineyard itself. Monprivato stretches across the hills that head down from the center of Castiglione Falletto. The entire cru is less than 15 acres, all of which face southwest. In addition to benefiting from an excellent microclimate, Monprivato is also an extremely beautiful place; the summit of the vineyard boasts spectacular views of the valleys of Barolo. The soil comprises primarily white and gray marlstone. The fossils of fish and seaweed that have been upturned when tilling the vineyard are testament to the fact that this area was once submerged under the sea.
Monprivato, the wine, is a well-structured Barolo with great elegance and intense aromas. The long macerations and long, thirty-eight-month aging in Slavonian oak barrels of various sizes give Monprivato its austere character. The wine is light granite red in color and has perfumes of dried flowers, soil, tobacco, and truffles. In the mouth, the pronounced tannins are balanced and silky. The wine is tight and linear, but never heavy. It is actually a wine “for drinking,” rather than “for tasting,” which is often the case with Piemontese wines. Monprivato is not a wine you get tired of, especially if you drink it fifteen years after its production—when the unique characteristics of the terroir have completed their work, giving life to one of the greatest wines in the Langa.
THE WINE THAT, in many ways, was responsible for changing the world’s opinion of Barolo is Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra. The talent and foresight of Domenico Clerico led to this extraordinary wine and the creation of an outstanding cru.
Domenico Clerico is the most charismatic and caring character in Barolo. In his youth, he decided to leave farming and his family farm because he found the agrarian lifestyle inhibitive. In the 1970s, country life in the Langa was quite different than it is today; the younger generation looked to escape from a life that seemingly had no future. Young Domenico was an excellent conversationalist and seduced everyone with his exuberant personality. He quickly found a job as an olive oil salesman, an occupation that required him to travel throughout Piemonte. After a couple of years, he realized that this was not the life for him, and he returned to the countryside and his family’s property. In 1977, Domenico had the good fortune of being part of a group of friends who were interested in improving the quality of wine in Piemonte. This group, commonly referred to as the Barolo Boys, included Guido Fantino, Enrico Scavino, and Elio Altare, to name a few. After several trips to Burgundy and Bordeaux, these winemakers began to understand the techniques of the top French producers and imported the use of barriques to Piemonte.
The year 1982 was considered the turning point for Barolo, owing to the release of Ciabot Mentin Ginestra. This wine was an immediate success, unlike anything else that had come before it. Domenico Clerico’s Barolo was elegant, clean, and captivating on the nose, intense and rich in the mouth—a far cry from the wines that had been made in the Langa until then. The Barolos of Domenico and a handful of other producers completely changed the region. Important German, Swiss, and American investors began to arrive. Then came 1990, and another turning point for the Barolo Boys: Wine critic Robert Parker Jr. awarded the vintage extremely high points. This was a first for a Piemontese wine. Within two or three years, the price of Barolo doubled, bringing wealth to the winemakers and notoriety to the wine.
Clerico continued to produce magnificent wine, focusing on modern winemaking techniques and using increasingly smaller wooden barrels like cigarillos (or 50-liter barrels) for aging his wine. Looking back, this may seem like a strange and less than positive decision, but at that time it was considered pioneering. Thanks to people like Domenico Clerico, Barolo kept progressing and people continued to believe in their work and in the land.
Monforte d’Alba is probably the town of Barolo that benefited the most from the changes that occurred in the 1980s. Some of the most famous wineries in Piemonte, and possibly in the world, are located here, including Clerico, Aldo and Giacomo Conterno, Conterno Fantino, Elio Grasso, Parusso, and Rocche dei Manzoni. These big names have homed in on Monforte because of the area’s location and climate, which is ideal for growing nebbiolo. The wines made here have the power and tannins of the Barolos of Serralunga, and the grace and elegance of those from La Morra or Barolo.
Ciabot Mentin Ginestra gets its name from the cru from which it is made. In Piemontese dialect, ciabot means “tool shed” and refers to the stone cabins that can be found throughout the vineyards. Ginestra, on the other hand, is the name of the grand cru that has an optimal southwestern exposure. The slope of the vineyard causes the soil to absorb water quickly, leaving the grapes free of mold and other fungal diseases. The limestone and clay soil is ideal for nebbiolo and produces grapes that best express the character of the terroir.
In addition to Ciabot Mentin Ginestra, Domenico Clerico produces two other great Barolos: Pajana and Percristina. The first is extremely modern, while the second is produced only in the best vintages and is released two years later than the others. Ciabot Mentin Ginestra is the commanding Barolo made by Domenico Clerico that is responsible for changing the world’s opinion of Barolo in general. Clerico’s strong desire to experiment has resulted in perfect balance in this wine. It is a very modern Barolo, but the grapes still make more of a difference in the outcome than the wooden barrels used to age the wine. The terroir is still present in the wine, an aspect appreciated by traditionalists. Despite the twenty-four months the wine spends in barriques, its nose has notes of licorice, berries, mint, coffee, blackberries, currants, and jam. In the mouth, it is strong and full bodied, with strong tannins balanced by a refreshing acidity. Ciabot Mentin Ginestra is best drunk at least ten years after the harvest.
THE SUCCESS OF this Barolo must be attributed to Enrico Scavino, one of the most forward-thinking and adaptable winemakers of his generation. Thanks to Enrico, this Barolo is one of the most magnificent in the world.
The story of Enrico Scavino can be considered a parable of contemporary winemaking in the Langa. The wine made in this region is deeply rooted in tradition. The vineyards on the softly rolling hills of southern Piemonte have been around forever, and in the nineteenth century, wineries and wine companies were opened exclusively for the production of wine. However, in terms of approach to quality and viticulture, the Langa is certainly a young territory—if not compared with the rest of Italy, then at least compared with Burgundy.
In fact, much of the history of the Scavino winery parallels that of French winemakers. Paolo Scavino—father of the current owner, Enrico—founded his company in the beginning of the twentieth century, producing wine, among other things, from his cascina (farmhouse). At that time, it was common to cultivate a variety of crops to feed one’s often large family. When things began to change in the 1970s, and growing grapes became enology, Paolo’s children, especially Enrico, were open-minded enough to think ahead. The Scavino family became aware of the fact that they were in possession of a grand terroir and the extraordinary nebbiolo grape. They also realized that there was a market for new, modern products with a wider appeal. However, they lacked a reference point. In those years, many producers looked to Tuscan and Burgundian winemakers for a model. The first lesson Enrico and his fellow winemakers learned, though it seemed simple enough, was that you have to begin by studying the vineyard, and only from there can you start to build a future.
The first step these winemakers took to develop the vineyards they hoped for was to end the practice of blending grapes from multiple vineyards. Until this time, the blending of grapes in Piemonte was considered the most infallible method for covering up any flaws in the grapes from a single vineyard. Blending also meant that wines would, for the most part, be consistent from one harvest to another. In the 1980s, this practice was overturned: Willing to assume the risk, ambitious winemakers, like Enrico Scavino, began focusing on wines made from single vineyards. The result? A race to the cru! The most talented vignerons, including Scavino, began studying the Barolo production area in search of the best vineyards. They studied cadastral maps, they spoke with the old-timers, they held on to the small parcels they inherited from their grandparents, and they purchased the best vineyards—often at outrageous prices—from farmers who preferred to live off their inheritance rather than cultivate it. The battery of Barolos that Enrico Scavino produces today is a demonstration of how well he made this transformation. The Scavino family now owns property in Cannubi, Fiasco, Bricco Ambrogio, Rocche di Castiglione, and Rocche dell’Annunziata: priceless vineyards that have turned the land in Barolo into a gold mine. Today, Enrico Scavino is one of the most well-regarded and most authoritative figures of “cru culture,” a culture that has not only enriched the territory, but has decidedly changed the style and concept of Langa wines from those of twenty years ago.
By drawing a line from one Scavino vineyard to another, one can basically create a map of the grand crus of the Langa. Together with his wife, Anna Maria, and their young daughters, Enrica and Elisa, Enrico manages a hypertechnological and impressive cellar. The Scavino winery is based in Castiglione Falletto, one of the eleven towns south of the city of Alba legislated to produce Barolo. Fiasco, the cru that changed the course of the winery and which was vinified individually for the first time in 1978, is also located in Castiglione Falletto. Within the comune of Castiglione, Scavino owns a less valuable vineyard called Vignolo and another “super cru,” known as Rocche di Castiglione—a long, narrow strip of hill containing parcels owned by other famous Piemontese wineries, including Oddero, Vietti, and Brovia. In the town of Barolo, the Scavino vineyards are located in one of the oldest crus of the area: Cannubi. The Vignane vineyard and the small cru of Via Nuova—which was once owned by the first president of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi—round out the Scavino properties in Barolo. The family also owns a vineyard in Roddi, a small town on the outskirts of the territory. And in La Morra, another epicenter of Barolo production and home to the most celebrated vineyards, the Scavino family owns a marvelous vineyard in the center of the Rocche dell’Annunziata cru.
Rocche dell’Annunziata is an extremely beautiful, wide, and productive vineyard, at least in Langa standards: It is almost 74 acres in size and is located between 830 and 890 feet above sea level, facing south-southwest. The cru is positioned just south of the center of La Morra and almost at the center of a larger amphitheater of vineyards that you can see from the incredible lookout site, or belvedere, on the other side of town. The Scavino family purchased property in Rocche dell’Annunziata in 1990, and the grapes from this cru are treated with special care: Whereas the grapes from Cannubi, Fiasco, and their other top vineyards are made into single cru wines each year, those from Rocche dell’Annunziata are used to make a Riserva di Barolo that is released only in the best vintages. Riserva, in the world of wine in general, and specifically in Barolo, can be translated as “set aside,” because it requires another two years of cellar aging in addition to the already-long four years mandated by the Barolo denomination. Producing a reserve wine is a major economic undertaking for a small- to medium-size winery. Add on the fact that the Riserva is not produced every year, and you will have a better understanding of why the prices for these bottles are so high. Barolo Rocche dell’Annunziata Riserva comes from a parcel of a vineyard that is little more than 1 acre in size and from which an average of 5,500 pounds of grapes are harvested annually. The plants are up to sixty years old and are located at an altitude of 1,100 feet; the soil is composed of marlstone and clay. The maceration time varies and the alcoholic fermentation occurs in temperature-controlled stainless steel vats. The malolactic fermentation takes place in barriques, where the wine rests for twelve months before aging for another twenty-four months in larger French oak barrels. After the blending of the barrels in stainless steel vats, the Barolo is bottled and aged for six to seven more months before it is released on the market.
Barolo Rocche dell’Annunziata Riserva is granite red in color, with intense aromas of wilted rose, tobacco, wet soil, vanilla, and ripe fruit. In the mouth, the wine’s celebrated elegance shines. This is a far cry from your powerful, tannin-rich Barolo. That is not to say that this wine doesn’t have force and strength, but these characteristics are softened by the wine’s silkiness. The wine has a long, harmonious finish. It is no surprise that the top wineries in the Langa have competed for a part of Rocche. Scavino produces only 2,500 bottles of his Riserva—in the years that he actually produces it—making this wine a rare treat indeed.
VIGNA RIONDA IS one of the most celebrated crus in Barolo, as is the wine produced by the owners of the vineyard, the Massolino family. The fact that the vineyard name appears before that of the Massolino family on the bottle suggests that the earth and the vine hold more significance than the people who work the land. In effect, when you have the good fortune of owning a cru like Vigna Rionda, or even the fortune to be based in Serralunga, the way you view the world changes.
You would be surprised to know how much has been said about a vineyard and a winemaking region that is far less famous than Cannubi or La Morra, for example. Serralunga always appears on the edges of the map of the great comuni of Barolo, revealing a shortcoming in wine writing, which is often focused more on the numbers than on actual quality. Serralunga represents 13 percent of the total Barolo production, compared with La Morra at 31 percent, or even Monforte at 17 percent. The reason that there are far fewer wineries in the territory of Serralunga is the presence of Fontanafredda, a large winery originally owned by the Savoy family. The company controls the commerce of grapes in the area, limiting the growth potential of small wineries. In absolute terms, however, Serralunga is a gem of the Barolo region—not only for the town itself, which radiates from one of the most beautiful medieval castles in southern Piemonte, but also for the large number of prized vineyards located within the comune. There are twenty-nine crus, distributed across a valley 4 miles long and 1 mile wide and characterized by its excellent exposure and excellent soil. Of the crus, Vigna Rionda is certainly the most well known, but only because the name of another exceptional Serralunga vineyard, Francia, does not appear on the label of Giacomo Conterno’s legendary Barolo Monfortino. If you add Falletto, a historic cru whose grapes go into Bruno Giacosa’s Barolo, we return to where we began: In Serralunga, the vineyards define the success of the wineries.
In addition to Barolo Vigna Rionda, which is produced only in the top vintages and released only after two additional years of aging—making it a Riserva—the Massolino family produces other single-vineyard Barolos: Margheria and Parafada are the most interesting and attest to the Burgundy-style approach of the winery. During the 1970s and ’80s, wineries would commonly blend grapes from various vineyards into a single wine, except when it came to the so-called base wine of the winery. In recent years, things have changed, and winemakers are focusing on single-vineyard wine, a far more difficult task that ultimately affects the final price of the bottle. Single-vineyard wines have paved the path for better expression and control over production and quality. Yet, in some cases, production has been overly fragmented, creating a risk that single-vineyard production is too small to have any kind of market value or too difficult to communicate to the public. The greatest risk of all is that wines produced from lesser vineyards are marketed as great crus. Thankfully for the Massolino family, this is not the case. The Vigna Rionda Massolino is made up of three vineyards, all of which are top performers.
Serralunga gets its name from the unique shape of the comune, which is spread across a long (lunga), thin strip of land completely covered in vines and located in the heart of the Barolo denomination. Serralunga is surrounded, if not overpopulated, by nebbiolo vineyards destined to produce the “King of Wines.” The road that leads from the city of Alba toward Serralunga passes along a ridge of hills that provides the south-southwest-facing vineyards to the left of the ridge with a cool and ventilated microclimate. The south-southeast-facing vineyards get the afternoon sun. The characteristics of the territory are strongly felt in the wines of Serralunga, especially in the tannins and their ability to age well. Vigna Rionda dominates the right side of the aforementioned street at an altitude of 820 to 980 feet. The cru covers 5 acres, of which the Massolino family owns a little more than 5 acres—all with southern exposure. The soil is calcareous marlstone. Many Piemontese winemakers have made a name for themselves with grapes from Vigna Rionda, including Oddero, the prestigious family with a cellar in La Morra, and Bruno Giacosa, who produced a 1993 Barolo Collina Rionda that made this vineyard famous throughout the world.
Compared with Margheria and Parafada, which are made year after year (except in relatively bad vintages like 2003), Vigna Rionda is a Barolo Riserva: the word “Riserva” indicates that the wine has been aged further in wood and also in the bottle. Often, however, winemakers use the Riserva label for their top wines, which in addition to being very aged, are made with extreme care and in limited quantities. Massolino’s Barolo Vigna Rionda Riserva, first produced in 1982, has had a series of excellent and memorable vintages, often acclaimed by international wine critics. This wine is a splendid example of traditional Barolo, even if the single-vineyard cru approach could be considered modern. The grapes macerate for twenty days on the lees, and then the wine spends three and a half years in large wooden barrels. During this time, the wine develops the characteristics that, once bottled, will continue to become more refined over the years.
Vigna Rionda has an attractive red granite color, with graceful and tight perfumes of dried rose, China root, raspberry, dark berries, wet earth, and tobacco leaves. In the mouth, you can taste the terroir of Serralunga and the vintage: The terroir gives the wine its power and tannin, while the vintage (depending on the year) gives the wine its grace and elegance, as well as its roundness and structure. This is a well-balanced wine with notable finesse. The finish is very long and is a sort of Rossini-worth crescendo that recalls the fruit aromas and best gusto-olfactory sensations. It is a jewel of the earth. Thankfully, the wise men of the Langa have not tried to intervene in the cellar, allowing the wine to truly taste of the earth.
THE BEST TIME to go and visit Elio Altare in La Morra is during the morning on any given day in September. This is when the colors of the Langa are at their height: a veil of mist over the crus, green vineyards dotted with the occasional insolent red leaf, and ripe bunches of grapes ready to be picked. Elio’s beautiful land gives life to a Barolo that speaks of its creator—a strong wine with a glorious aesthetic that expresses the exceptional earth from which it comes.
Elio’s life can be counted in harvests. He is a man of the Langa, the last place on earth where seasons pass, not time. With the rough skin of a farmer, you can see he’s a man who has breathed the air of the postwar years, when remaining on the land meant prolonging the resistance—not to a tangible enemy, but to poverty. High school was considered a luxury that his family couldn’t provide, so young Elio took to the fields and vineyards. In 1975, Elio’s father uprooted his nebbiolo vines to plant rows of dolcetto. This act was such a travesty to Elio that a year later he decided to leave his family’s vineyard for Burgundy.
In France, Elio discovered that producers can work together as a community, that technology can successfully be used in the cellar, and that long-term investments can be rationalized. Upon his return, the situation began to change: In 1978, winemakers began to green-harvest (that is, they removed grape bunches a month before harvest to concentrate the maximum juice in the grapes that will be harvested) for the first time. The vision of grapes on the ground in Annunziata was like a Copernican revolution. Five years later, barriques took the place of imposing old casks for aging wine; however, the revolution was made complete with a third “sacrilege”: the shortening of maceration times from sixteen days, to eight, to four, and finally to just forty-two hours in the case of Barolo Arborina 1994.
As extremely short macerations caught on quickly in the Langa, the rest of the wine world began to recognize that something was happening in these hills. The press coined the name Barolo Boys, naming Elio the leader of this group of young, impudent winemakers who were challenging the great legendary wines of the Langa, which until then had seemed untouchable. These were the years of the roaring 1990s, when Barolo was being heralded worldwide. While some producers began to flaunt their newfound fortune, Elio did not. Firm in his ways, today Elio Altare produces 5,000 bottles, the same number he made before the winemaking boom in Piemonte. In a place that seems like a workshop, his cellar has remained the humble setting of a working man.
Elio Altare is not alone in all this. He is tied to two other winemakers: Angelo Gaja and Bartolo Mascarello. Both in the market and in the cellar, Angelo was a mentor and friend to Elio. Bartolo, however, has always been portrayed as the fierce conceptual enemy of Elio: the modernist against the traditionalist, short macerations versus long. Deep down, however, Elio is closely bound to the image of Mascarello: Although their ideas about winemaking may differ, their stubbornness in their battles against industrial winemakers who have destroyed the Langa couldn’t be more similar. They both fought against the men who bought up vineyards; built large, pharaonic wineries; and if things weren’t looking good, abandoned the land to invest in the trend of the moment. People are born farmers, but only some remain so. Elio rarely smiles; he is a true farmer in the old-fashioned sense. The only thing that makes him proud is having reinstilled a sense of dignity to the profession of winemaking and its history to the territory. Elio is the true vigneron of the Langa.
La Morra is one of the eleven comuni in the Barolo denomination; however, it stands apart as one of the most famous due to its soil. It is also known for the many small winemakers who decided to start bottling grapes under their own name in the past twenty years, bringing about a winemaking revolution in the Langa. On the eastern side of the comune, where the hill peaks at 1,800 feet, there is a small suburb called Annunziata, where there are just a handful of houses surrounded by vines. This spot is where Elio Altare has built his little kingdom: 12 acres that he owns and 12 that he rents. This would be considered peanuts by some of the large Piemontese landowners, but it seems like a lot for Elio, who manages this land practically by himself. His eldest daughter, Silvia, is the only person who gives him a hand. Arborina is the oldest and best-positioned vineyard on his property. If it were in France, this area would definitely be called a premier cru. In Italy, however, it is referred to as a “grand cru.” This is another particularity about Elio: He was able to create a vineyard out of nothing. Arborina was practically unknown until about twenty years ago. It has always had good positioning, but it was nothing exceptional compared with the many other vineyards in La Morra. Elio was able to complete the miracle of giving value to a piece of land that few would have considered of any worth.
What does it mean to be a modernist? We can say that Elio Altare, while being considered the leader of the Barolo Boys, has never sought to intervene directly in the cellar. In his winery, for example, the cigarillos (or 50-liter barrels) have never been used. The same goes for engineered yeasts; they have never entered the winery.
For these reasons, Vigneto Arborina, which can certainly be called a modern-style Barolo, is able to express the complex terroir of La Morra. In this area, nebbiolo grapes are not as tannic and muscular as those of Serraluna or Monforte. Here, the Barolo is characterized by its elevated elegance, grace, and a slight lack of structure, according to lovers of stronger tannins. Elio is probably the winemaker who was able to best interpret the feminine side of the grapes. He prefers the tannins in his Barolo to be caressing rather than muscular. On the nose, Arborina has nuances of nectarine, wild strawberry, dried flowers, and rosehip. In the mouth, the wine is smooth, velvety, and silky, with, however, a long and definite finish.
Another important characteristic of Elio’s Arborina is that, strangely, it shows best in the worst vintages. His 1994 or even his 1993—a particularly bad year for wines from the Langa—are two excellent examples. At the same time, his 1982, 1985, and 1989 were unforgettable vintages. And there is no need to go looking for his 1997: Although it was a great year, Elio did not release his Barolo because defective corks ruined his yearly production of Arborina. Elio Altare is the only one among the small wine producers who was able to successfully sue the multinational company that sold him the cork—just another incredible success story in the life of this intrepid vignaiolo.
ONE OF the most recent stars to emerge onto the stage of the Italian wine world is, without a doubt, the timorasso grape variety. Although the word may mean little to the American wine-drinking public, that is sure to change soon. Timorasso is a miracle grape. It was once lost and has since been found, extant and revived in a far-off corner of Piemonte in the province of Alessandria.
Bordered by three regions of northern Italy—Liguria, Lombardia, and Emilia Romagna—Allessandria has grown timorasso for centuries. But the grape started to disappear at the end of World War II, when the market wanted only simple, standardized, profit-generating wines, leaving little room for a variety that requires special care in the vineyard and great attention in the cellar. Timorasso became less profitable compared with the more widely available grape varieties present in the zone, like cortese, barbera, freisa, and dolcetto. Slowly, people began to forget about timorasso and the vineyards where it was once planted. Then, suddenly, timorasso became popular again. In the 1990s, the market for white wines shifted. People started to look for wines with character from lesser-known regions. Old, native grape varieties became the rage, as did white wines with great acidity, strong aromas, and propensity for aging. Timorasso fit the bill.
Walter Massa is a winemaker from Monleale, a town in the territory of Colli Tortonesi, far east of the famed Langa hills. Until he found timorasso, Massa made modest red wines for the local market. In 2000, a little bit of fame came his way for his fantastic barrique-aged Barbera. Critics and wine lovers started to pay more attention to this tiny winery and discovered that Massa was making a praiseworthy effort to revive timorasso, which could be found only in the area around the city of Tortona. Massa, however, was not alone. Franco Martinetti, a well-known Piemontese winemaker, was producing a pure timorasso wine. Although Martinetti may have been the first to release his timorasso, Massa is certainly the person who relaunched the variety, reintroducing the wine to the wine world. Massa is a volcanic, passionate, and uncontrollable person who is almost eccentric in his personal vision and dedication to timorasso. Massa’s winery became the flag bearer in the region, “forcing” his fellow winemakers to replant timorasso. He experimented with different styles of vinification, beginning with aging some of his grapes in stainless steel and others in barriques. Because of Massa’s wines, people are talking about the Colli Tortonesi as a new, little Alto Adige, home to the most interesting white wines of the area. Thanks to the revival of timorasso, several research institutes, as well as individual wineries, began studying other grape varieties to save. The success of timorasso has also helped the wine to receive DOC status and to be exported to markets abroad.
Tortona is a small town in the province of Alessandria, where viticulture has been a part of life for centuries. Years ago, small family companies, passed down through the generations, produced wine for local markets. For a long time, the wine produced in this part of southern Piemonte was served at the tables of gentlemen in nearby Liguria, a region unable to produce enough wine to meet the demands of its local market because of its mountainous inland terrain. This area eventually become more famous for its sportsmen—Fausto Coppi, a champion cyclist, and Gianni Rivera, a former soccer player who scored the decisive goal in the Italy-Germany match during the semifinals of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico—than for its wines.
Massa has been able to champion a grape variety over a terroir. This corner of Piemonte certainly does not have the exposure, soil, and climate of the Langa, and for this reason, timorasso has distinguished the territory. Nowadays, the area of Alessandrino is known not only for its extraordinary whites, but also for excellent red wines, like Barbera and Dolcetto, which have finally been improved thanks to the introduction of more modern winemaking techniques.
Today, timorasso vineyards covers about 120 acres of land, a handful of which are owned by Walter Massa, who is able to produce around 40,000 bottles per year. Although timorasso is growing in popularity, it is still made in small quantities because of the need to respect the rhythms of nature and the difficulty of penetrating an already saturated wine market. Despite these obstacles, Massa continues to find converts willing to invest in this rediscovered grape. In the meantime, Massa has diversified his production, creating a sort of stylistic and conceptual pyramid. At the bottom, we have Derthona (the Latin name of the city of Tortona), a simple Timorasso made from grapes from the youngest vines. One step up is Sterpi, a single-vineyard Timorasso vinified exclusively in stainless steel, revealing some of the mineral notes that are the base of the wine’s success. At the top of the pyramid is Costa del Vento, another cru also aged in small wooden barrels.
On the nose, Colli Tortonesi Bianco Costa del Vento recalls a Riesling and has notes of grapefruit, peach tree flowers, graphite, and musk. In the mouth, the wine shines: It is full, round with exceptional minerality, and juicy with fruit and floral notes on the finish. This is a wine of big impact. It is great drunk young and really great if aged for a few years, even if we will have to wait to see just how long it can evolve happily.
IT IS NOT easy to talk about the most famous Italian wine producer in the world without taking a tone of admiration, which he no doubt deserves, and of fascination with his unmatchable success with one of the most important types of Piemontese wines, Barbaresco. Over the years, Angelo Gaja, a spirited public speaker, and his wines changed what the world thought about the wines of Italy.
The history of Gaja dates back to the middle of the nineteenth century, when Angelo’s great-grandfather, the actual helmsman of the winery, decided to open a transportation company in Alba, leaving his farmhouse and its surrounding land to his five sons. Angelo’s grandfather (also named Angelo) managed an osteria in Barbaresco with his wife, Clotilde Rey, a strong-willed and intelligent French woman who is credited with taking the first step to improving the quality of the wines produced in the family winery. We are talking the beginning of the twentieth century here. Real change began with Giovanni, Angelo and Clotilde’s son and father to the current Angelo Gaja. A land surveyor, the mayor of Barbaresco, a successful building contractor, a grape broker, and a businessman popular throughout southern Piemonte, Giovanni spent enough time in the cellar to guarantee that his son Angelo would have a strong, growing business. Even if his Barbarescos were sold unbottled in demijohns, they were already being purchased by the most important families in Piemonte—from the Zegna textile family to the Angelli family, which owns Fiat. The wines were universally well received, commanded a great price, and were commercially diffused throughout the region. Eventually, the wine could age for ten years before being sold. Then the volcanic Angelo was born, and any calmness or steadiness the Gaja family had known seemed to vanish. In forty years of incessant work, the heir of the Gaja dynasty transformed the winery into the benchmark of great Italian wine.
Little of his success was due to good fortune; rather, the Gaja notoriety is based almost entirely on Angelo’s intuition, commitment, and vision. To retrace the pivotal moments of Gaja’s influence on the image of wine, we must begin in 1967, the year in which his first Barbaresco cru, the legendary Sorì San Lorenzo, was released. The decision to establish specific crus and to microvinify specific parcels of land, giving them a cru name, is a pivotal turning point in the entire world of Italian wine. In time, the Gaja crus did more to elevate Italian fine wine production on an international level than perhaps any other single decision in Italian viticulture and enology. After this point, the potential of Barbaresco’s greatest crus would be known by the Italian wine world, and the reception of these vineyards would be put on a par with the great crus of Burgundy and the Mosel. In 1970, Guido Rivella, a top enologist, joined the winery and became a fundamental pillar of its development. That same year, Barbaresco Sorì Tildin, named in honor of Grandma Clotilde, was released. In 1978, Gaja created Costa Russi, the third wine in their Barbaresco trilogy, made from grapes harvested from fourteen vineyards.
In addition to the revolution of the cru, Angelo Gaja made at least two other changes in breaking away from the past and from his fellow winemakers. He was the first to grasp the importance of travel as a means of comparison, growth, exchange, and promotion of his own wines. His trips to the United States during the 1970s and ’80s—where he is still received as a superstar (or, more fittingly, a king)—made quite an impression in the market. As a young boy in the late 1970s in Queens, I first got to meet Angelo. I still remember the encounter today; he had an incredible ability to communicate and transmit his message of quality and authenticity in Italian wine production. Later, in the late 1980s, I was lucky enough to live in Alba, and I spent some highly impactful moments with Angelo in the vineyard and the cellar. He continues to be a good friend, confidant, and mentor, and he has had a strong influence on my perspective on wine as a professional throughout my life.
Angelo Gaja spent his life working unremittingly to raise the perception of Barbaresco to that of Barolo. This portion of the Langa—located in southern Piemonte, with Barolo directly to the southwest and also close to Monferrato, and planted with barbera to the northeast—had felt, for a long time, the frustration of being Barolo’s “younger” sibling. For years, or rather for decades, or perhaps even centuries, generations of grape growers and wine lovers had created a sort of hierarchy, placing Barolo a step above the more genteel, elegant, and immediate Barbaresco. The local agronomy, superficial knowledge of farming techniques, and historical factors all contributed to Barbaresco’s being number two: Despite how amiable, elegant, sought after, and loved a wine it may be, it could never be Barolo. But then Angelo arrived. The Gaja family is responsible for having eliminated this secondary positioning, demonstrating that, with dedication, excellently positioned vineyards, and the greatness of the nebbiolo grape, the wines that could be made in the Barbaresco area are great and even sometimes greater than Barolo.
In 2000, in an attempt to challenge himself, Gaja bought land in Barolo to contrast the territories and measure himself against the great red of the Langa. Or perhaps, after working so long and hard in the world of Barbaresco, Angelo decided to abandon the single denomination of his wines in 2000, giving himself more flexibility with the Langhe Nebbiolo denomination.
In all fairness, there are two other famous Piemontese winemakers in addition to Gaja to whom this historic changing of the winds should also be attributed: Bruno Giacosa with his Santo Stefano cru, and Bruno Ceretto with his memorable vintages of Bricco Asili. Beyond what the production guidelines say—differences in aging, a minimum alcohol level, and even a different, less austere color—Barbaresco has become and has remained one of the greatest wines in the world. Its only remaining handicap with respect to Barolo is the considerable difference in production area and relative volumes: 10 million bottles of Barolo are produced a year from eleven comuni, while only 3 million bottles of Barbaresco are made from only three comuni. This is a fact that producers have had to deal with for years and which they have tried to use to their advantage when positioning the wine on the market.
Angelo Gaja has proved capable of excellence in everything he does and everywhere he goes, from Piemonte to Toscana (where he has recently purchased property). Every new initiative of his clearly bears his stamp, as do his wine labels, on which the brand awareness of his last name signifies both a sort of contradiction to tradition and at the same time a strong sense of history. But Gaja is king, and with the king there is no room for discussion—at least when it comes to wine.
Of course, the wine that is known far across Italy owes something of its royal bearing to the land on which the grapes are grown. Langhe Nebbiolo Sorì San Lorenzo, a Barbaresco produced from 1967 to 2000, comes from a vineyard called Secondine, located next to the town of Barbaresco. The Tanaro River runs through the lower valley, while the vineyard’s position varies between 660 and 890 feet. Close by, there are two other famous crus of the denomination, Pajè and Moccagatta. The Gaja family purchased the heart of the Secondine area in 1964, renaming it San Lorenzo as homage to the saint after which the main church of Alba was named and the owner of the land before it was given to Gaja. “Sorì,” in Piemontese, refers to the part of the cru with the best exposure, which is normally south-facing on a hill. This is a spectacular vineyard in all regards: for its landscape, for the care it is given, and for its regular yields of nebbiolo grapes of the highest quality. After the harvest, the grapes are macerated and fermented for three weeks in stainless steel. They are then aged for two years, first in botti grandi (big barrels) and then in barriques. According to the official production guidelines for the Langhe Nebbiolo (the current denomination of this wine), it is possible to add a small percentage of barbera grapes (5 percent) to Sorì San Lorenzo. This is a common practice with nebbiolo-based wines and is used to soften the tannins of the nebbiolo grape.
Of the five Gaja crus, Sorì San Lorenzo is the most austere and long lived, and certainly the most expressive of Gaja’s powerful, masculine style. On the nose, the wine is an expression of concentrated fruit, especially black fruit and spices, with rich minerality and earthy notes. On the palate, it is the perfect balance between power, alcohol, tannins, and elegance. Its finish recalls leather and truffles, with a lingering promise of longevity and evolution.
THIS IS the story of a great Italian winery, which, like many great Italian wineries, is credited with dramatically changing the course of Italian winemaking. In this case, we are talking about Cantina Produttori del Barbaresco, a cellar that, at a very early time, was able to understand the value of vineyard-designated crus. Made by the same winery, using the same grape variety and the same winemaking techniques, the Produttori del Barbaresco cru wines demonstrate the difference that the position of the vineyards can make on nebbiolo.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, in the far-off hills of the Langa, Domizio Cavazza, the founder of the winery, was able to demonstrate (as the French had already done in Burgundy) the impact that the precise location of a vineyard can have on the resulting wine. In fact, Domizio Cavazza is still considered a sort of hero in Piemonte today. Born in 1856—a year after Bordeaux classified its crus—into a noble family in Concordia sul Secchia, Cavazza grew up studying agronomy and traveling throughout Europe. He was invited by Italy’s Ministry of Agriculture to create a viticulture and enology school in Alba in 1881, and to act as the school’s first president. This was the beginning of an intense relationship with the area around Alba in southern Piemonte, an area known by few at that time.
Cavazza was a sharp observer, which allowed him to understand the potential of the vines cultivated on the hills surrounding Alba. He began to visit the small towns throughout the Langa and had a particular affinity for the hamlet of Barbaresco. He was quite taken by the character of the nebbiolo-based wines made there and decided to invest personally in the promotion of this “local red.” He bought a farmhouse and some land and began to carefully study the soil and the grapes, looking to the French for inspiration. In 1884, together with another famous person of the time, Guido Rocca, he decided to start a Cantina Sociale, or winemaking cooperative, so that local winemakers could join forces. At the time, this idea came as a shock to the strongly individualistic Piemontese winemakers, who had always resisted commercial or economic “unions.” However, Cavazza’s charisma was convincing, and he was able to win over his fellow farmers, something many people before him had attempted but failed. The Cantina Sociale produced the first official bottle of Barbaresco, giving life to a new star in the Italian wine panorama.
When Cavazza died in 1913, he left behind a huge inheritance of values and know-how. The path for the Cantina had already been laid out: to produce consistent volumes of quality wine. Then Fascism came along, and with it came the end of the Cantina Sociale. The new political regime was intolerant of cooperatives, and therefore the Cantina was closed. In 1958, the winery was reopened, this time under the guidance of a priest, don Fiorino, and with a new name: Cantina Produttori del Barbaresco. The new Cantina originally brought together nineteen small producers; it has since grown to include sixty. The collective vineyards now cover 270 acres (about 20 percent of the entire denomination), and all are planted with nebbiolo destined to become Barbaresco. The winery produces 300,000 bottles a year, of which half are “base” (labeled simple Barbaresco, with no cru designation) Barbaresco aged in large casks and which are emblematic of the wine in terms of style, elegance, and balance. The other half are divided among nine labels corresponding to the nine different crus, or historic vineyards: Asili, Moccagatta, Montefico, Montestefano, Ovello, Pajè, Pora, Rabajà, and Rio Sordo. Acclaimed by critics, these wines are considered the symbol and pride of the city of Barbaresco itself, with fans across Italy, thanks also to their good price-to-quality ratios and their availability. The Cantina Produttori del Barbaresco is without a doubt the most famous cooperative in Piemonte, and, now in its third decade of activity, is likely to remain so.
Touring the Barbaresco crus owned by the members of the Cantina is truly an emotional experience because of the beauty of the surrounding landscape. The tiny town of Barbaresco is one of the best preserved in the Langa and is literally immersed among the vines. There are at least twenty-four crus worth mentioning that are responsible for almost 50 percent of the entire production of Barbaresco. The climate of the area is characterized by air currents that pass through the valleys, which are literally wedged between the vine-covered hills. Each valley has its own microclimate. The nine celebrated crus of the Cantina Produttori frame the city. Each one deserves an in-depth description because we are talking about the “best of the best” of Italian winemaking history and tradition. However, over the years, the Montestefano cru has produced great wines that on occasion can be extraordinary. Montestefano is formed by a very steep central area that faces directly south; it begins at the town of Barbaresco and extends down the hillside. The far sides of the vineyard stretch east and west, slightly losing that perfect southern exposure. The vineyard is located at 890 feet above sea level and covers 12 acres of land. The property is divided between five families—Gonella, Maffei, Marcarino, Rivella, and Rocca—all members of the Cantina. Montestefano was one of the first crus to be vinified with the name of the cru appearing on the label. This was back in 1961 and was the work of Beppe Colla of the Prunotto winery.
Montestefano can be considered “the most Barolo-like Barbaresco” as it has a traditionally powerful and tannic structure. It slightly steers one away from the classic idea of Barbaresco as a gentler red with respect to its “cousin” Barolo, while remaining in the same category of wine. Some of the more memorable vintages include 1971 and 1982: Tasted today, these bottles demonstrate the incredible longevity of the wines produced in Montestefano. Characterized by notes of leather and tobacco, the wine is considered one of the best expressions of the Langa. Made exclusively from nebbiolo grapes harvested in mid-October, Montestefano begins its life in the cellar, where it rests on the skins for twenty-four days. The wine is then aged for thirty-six months in small oak casks, followed by eight months in the bottle. The bottles labeled “Riserva” are left to age for an additional two years. The dark ruby red color and light hints of orange are the tradional signs of great classic nebbiolo. On the nose, the wine is typically spicy and earthy, with notes of licorice and the forest floor. Its flavor is strong, round, and powerful, yet refined, finishing on an unmistakable note of tobacco leaves.
IT’S AMAZING to see how a man revered today for his brilliant Barbaresco wines was once considered lunatic for his seemingly idiotic winemaking methods. Fiorenzo Nada stubbornly pushed forward in spite of the resistance he faced, and we have him to thank for creating one of Italy’s greatest wines.
The history of the Nada family of Treiso, a small village located in the area where Barbaresco is produced, is closely linked to that of the territory. Over the course of twenty years, the area has become one of the standouts on the Italian and European wine scene. Fiorenzo Nada is a lively eighty-seven-year-old who is young at heart. He does not leave out any details when recounting the difficult beginnings encountered by the region’s winemakers. Born into a family of farmers, Fiorenzo grew up with the challenges and poverty of a world years away from knowing the comforts of modern life. The same manicured, rolling hills that today are known by wine lovers were once a place where people farmed for survival and where hunger was a constant threat. The land was cultivated with a variety of plants, of which grapes were certainly not the focal point. Things seemed destined to remain the same forever here in the Langa, but at the beginning of the 1980s, something changed for good. The young farmers’ sons—including Bruno, son of Fiorenzo—began to notice what was occurring outside of Piemonte (in Toscana or Burgundy, for example). The new generation recognized that they were living in an extraordinary winemaking territory that had its own incredible grape variety. In other words, they realized they could make a living from wine but that they would have to make major investments to do so.
Bruno, in particular, was one of the first to pave his own way. Little did he know that in only a few years, the image of southern Piemonte would change completely. He began the practice of thinning out the nebbiolo grapes—his father reacted with disdain because he felt his son was “wasting” valuable raw material. Bruno also bought the first barrique, another sign of breaking tradition; in the past, regional wines were made in cement or in large wooden barrels. Based on these improvements, Bruno found the courage to market his wines outside of the usual client base. This may seem like a simple and relatively unimportant story, but it is a small example of what happened across the territory. In fact, we are talking about the birth of modern winemaking in Piemonte—a cultural and social phenomenon destined to have a major impact even on other regions in Italy. After having made this first step, Bruno Nada and his fellow winemakers did not stop there: The determination and the experience they had gained led them to compete with the most well-known Tuscan and French winemakers. Their work caused Barbaresco to grow in popularity and become “Barolo’s brother.” From here on, the life and pride of the farmer would change decisively.
Up to this point, the history of the Nada family is very similar to that of other families living nearby. However, what really sets them apart is that Bruno Nada had humility, passion, and a talent for making incredible, elegant wines that almost seemed “out of place and out of time.” His wines were fascinating and had a strong character. Being welcomed into their small cellar at the top of the hill of Rombone and tasting their wines in the company of wise old Fiorenzo is truly a special experience. The Nada family demonstrated that it is possible to become a great winemaker while remaining true to yourself. Despite winning the Tre Bicchieri award in the Vini d’Italia wine guidebook, the family has steered clear of the press. With their dedication and hard work, they have a built a simple, essential, and uplifting history.
The production zone of Barbaresco wine borders, both geographically and “mentally,” that of Barolo. It is located in southern Piemonte, near the dynamic city of Alba, in the swath of hills known as the Langa. Unlike Barolo—whose production zone is made up of eleven comuni—Barbaresco comprises only three: Barbaresco, Neive, and Treiso (besides a small area in Alba). Only recently has Treiso been confirmed as an important wine area. It boasts a magnificent location and is filled with vineyards with good exposure. For years, Treiso produced grapes for some of the most well-known winemakers in the Langa. Only recently, thanks to the example set by Bruno Nada, have the area’s winemakers begun to keep the grapes with which nature and human tending have gifted them harvest after harvest. Today you can find many Barbarescos by producers from Treiso. Bruno Nada has some of the most beautiful vineyards in the area. One in particular, Rombone, has demonstrated an ability to produce very important nebbiolo-based wines and is now even considered a “grand cru” of the Langa. Built around the Nadas’ property of the same name, the Rombone vineyard varies from 650 to 850 feet in altitude and has a southwest-facing exposure, allowing it to benefit from the day’s last rays of light.
Barbaresco Rombone is named after the almost-fifty-year-old vines from which it is produced. The nebbiolo grapes are left to mature until mid-October, when the air cools and the first fog arrives, signaling harvest time across the hills. The maceration of the grapes occurs in stainless steel vats and continues for ten to twelve days. Then malolactic fermentation starts, which takes place in the same French oak barriques in which the wine will age for the next sixteen to eighteen months. The wine is then aged for another year in the bottle before the Barbaresco Rombone is ready. However, this wine is known to age well and can wait to be drunk.
With a brick-red core and deep orange ring, Rombone has a pretty nose, with spicy, earthy notes. It is more elegant than it is strong, even in regard to its aroma, in which you find elements of leather, cacao, and licorice; it is always well balanced, with fresh and lively sensations of red fruit. In the mouth, both the elegance and strength of the wine reach their peak—owing to the short period of time spent in small wooden barrels, which on one hand, rounds off the harshness of the nebbiolo, and on the other, exalts the tannic component of the varietal. Rombone has a long, silky finish, which recalls its aroma. It is a wine of brilliance, able to bring light to the Barbaresco zone like few others.
THE RIVETTI BROTHERS—Carlo, Bruno, and Giorgio—who own the famous La Spinetta winery, have had a powerful and lasting impact on the Italian wine market. Their Barbarescos turned the wine world upside down with a confident and imaginative interpretation of tradition. Starderi Barbaresco shouts for attention with a fruit-forward style and technically rounded edges. In many ways, this wine brought the full potential of modern-style Barbaresco to the world.
The history of this Piemontese winery, however, begins on the opposite side of the world. Giovanni Rivetti, the brothers’ grandfather, was a part of the huge wave of Piemontesi who emigrated to Argentina at the end of the nineteenth century (1890, in Giovanni’s case) in search of fame and fortune. Having found neither, Giovanni returned to his native land and purchased a small farm. On his death, Giovanni left the property to his son Giuseppe, who began making wine commercially. The family bought property and vineyards in Castagnole Lanze, just a few miles from the area producing some of the top red wines of the Langa, where they began growing the nebbiolo grape, as well as the moscato grape, which is used to make a simple dessert wines. The Rivetti family was the first in the area to focus their attention on moscato, giving life to the crus of Moscato d’Asti by selecting and vinifying grapes from single vineyards. Back in 1978, the cru moscatos Bricco Quaglia and Biancospino wines represented a new way to interpret this popular white Piemontese wine.
In the years to follow, Giuseppe’s three sons—Carlo, Bruno, and Giorgio—began working inside the winery, and in 1985, La Spinetta released its first red wine: Barbera d’Asti Ca’ di Pian. Four years later, in 1989, came the birth of Monferrato Rosso Pin (dedicated to Giuseppe), a wine that once again had a tremendous impact on territory: This was the first-ever blend of barbera and nebbiolo. From here on out, there has been no end to the influence of the Rivetti brothers on Italian winemaking. Aware of their enormous potential, they decided, almost unconsciously at the beginning, to create a model winery focused entirely on quality. In just three years (1995–1997), they came out with three new wines: Barbaresco Gallina, Starderi, and Valeirano, each of which capture their interpretive spirit, style, and power.
The Rivetti brothers would certainly consider themselves modernists because of their decision to aggressively prune the vines and to use short maceration times and small wood casks, and beause of their dedication to the concept of cru wines. Compared with many other producers who have chosen to take the same road, La Spinetta has avoided strict definition or classification by exploring new stylistic territories, concentrating the wines (that, however, remain elegant), seeking out new flavors and sensations from traditional Piemontese red wines (which, however, still remain terroir driven), and giving a glamorous touch to the image of the winery. If we have to give the Rivetti brothers a label, the most fitting one might be “postmodernist.” Giorgio, the leader of the azienda, is truly a man of the global wine world. Unlike many Italians who are extremely limited in their appreciation of wine, his palate has been developed by tasting throughout the world. The rhinoceros on La Spinetta labels has actually come to signify postmodern winemaking in Italy. And in recent years, a lion has been added to the portfolio of La Spinetta wine labels: Like the lion, their Barolo Campè is king of the jungle.
So far, nothing can stop the Rivetti brothers. They have purchased a property in Toscana, between Pisa and Volterra, where they are now producing sangiovese-based wines. Although this may seem like the course of a multinational brand, the company is growing and enlarging in a sustainable way, thanks to the familiar, generous, and informal style of the Rivetti family. Currently, the staff is focused on making the vineyards biodynamic—a potentially extremely effective mix of traditional and modern winemaking techniques.
In every place they set up camp—from Asti to Barbaresco to Barolo, all the way down to Toscana—the Rivetti brothers have made important contributions to the local management of the land, the promotion of native Italian wine varieties, and the implementation of forward-thinking production techniques and communication strategies. What they have brought to Barbaresco is a perfect example of this. Arriving in Neive during the 1990s, the Rivetti brothers divided their attention between two territories: the legendary Gallina vineyard, where they produced their first Barbaresco, and the semi-unknown and undervalued Starderi. (The third La Spinetta Barbaresco, Valeirano, comes from the comune of Treiso.) Starderi is a vineyard sheltered by a small town just outside of Neive and spreads down the valley toward the Tanaro River. The most prized part of the vineyard faces southwest at an altitude of about 890 feet. Vinified and bottled for the first time in 1996, the grapes from this vineyard have proved to have an explosive force, and it is being recognized as a grand cru of Barbaresco.
So why the rhinoceros and not another animal? Giorgio Rivetti loved the Albrecht Dürer woodcut of a rhinoceros, depicting an actual rhinoceros sent as a gift to the King of Portugal in 1515 from the governor of Portuguese India. The rhinoceros is undoubtedly a strong symbol, tenacious yet delicate since it is at risk of extinction. Giorgio and his brother must have thought of this when they had the image replicated for their wine labels. Starderi is strong, like the grape from which it is made (nebbiolo); tenacious, like the men who made it; and delicate, for it is ultimately a product of Mother Nature. The grapes of the vineyard (which covers 16 acres, with vines that have an average age of forty years) are harvested toward mid-October. The maceration lasts seven to eight days, and the malolactic fermentation occurs in small casks. The wine rests in barriques, of both old and new French oak, for twenty to twenty-two months before moving into stainless steel tanks for three more months. Once bottled, the wine is left to age for a year.
Barbaresco Vigneto Starderi has a deep, ruby red color and ethereal, toasty perfumes, as well as plenty of ripe fruit, with cherries, wild strawberries, currants, and sour cherries, then roses, wet earth, leather, and licorice. In the mouth, the wine is elegant, with a fine finish. In between is a cannon shot of power, flavor, sapidity, tannins, and roundness. By tasting the 1996 Starderi, the first vintage produced, one can easily understand the astonishing effect the wine had, and still has, on the world of Barbaresco.
FEW WINEMAKERS in Italy, or anywhere else for that matter, can be called “founders” of a wine and of a winemaking tradition. Giacomo Bologna, known as Braida (a nickname passed down—as names often are—from his grandfather, who was a local hero of a popular Piemontese sport called pallapugno), was a pioneer, an initiator, and a prophet who was capable of seeing into the future. Many years ago, Braida was responsible for making barbera, a grape once considered to be quite poor, into a global powerhouse. He turned it into a wine of excellence, recognized and awarded by wine critics from around the world. He was able to accomplish this feat thanks to an unshakable faith in the territory, an atypical visionary talent, and an extraordinary love of life that made him an unforgettable person.
Born in Rocchetta Tanaro, a small town located between the hills of south-central Piemonte, in the area known as Monferrato Astigiano, Giacomo Bologna lived his childhood and youth to the fullest, slowly discovering the flavors, rites, and treasures of the rural landscape. He also discovered a love for feste in piazza (city fairs) and traditional music; a passion for eating well and for truffles (his family managed, and still manages, a trattoria that has become a destination spot for food lovers); and a strong sense of friendship and human relationships. These characteristics accompanied Braida throughout his life, and somehow eventually came to define the style of his wine.
Giacomo began to make his move into the farm of his father, Giuseppe, in the 1960s. These were hard years. The economic boom was bringing Italy back to life, but the beneficiaries of the stimulus were primarily the city dwellers. The countryside was still considered backward and was often exploited by the large wholesalers. In 1964, in rebellion against one of these companies, known throughout Monferrato for buying grapes from the farmers at very low cost, Giacomo Bologna decided to bottle his own barbera grapes. This is how Monella—an exceptional wine at the time that to this day is still famous—was born, and how people began talking about this local varietal, barbera.
Braida realized that he was headed down the right path and put more effort into his work as a grape grower, winemaker, and communicator. He traveled to France and California, and he met with the top winemakers and chefs in Italy and abroad. He entered an elite cultural circle and was introduced to important figures like the wine critic and writer Gino Veronelli; the future founder of Slow Food, Carlo Petrini; and famous soccer players, musicians, and artists. Everyone was charmed by the infectious enthusiasm of this gregarious man. In 1982, he produced the first superquality Barbera in small French barrels, calling it Bricco dell’Uccellone. With the release of this wine, the history of this native varietal, which is grown on 50 percent of the Piemontese vineyards, changed forever. It finally distinguished itself as one of the great European reds. Giacomo, however, did not get to enjoy his success: He died prematurely in 1990, leaving his wife, Anna, and their children, Raffaella and Giuseppe, with the job of keeping his unique spirit alive. His mantra remains a spiritual testament among his fellow winemakers: “Build yourself a large, spacious, and well-ventilated cellar, liven it up with a lot of beautiful bottles, some standing straight up, others lying on their side, to consider with a friendly eye in the evenings of spring, summer, fall, and winter, smiling at the thought that a man without a song and without noise, without women and without wine, will supposedly live ten years longer than you.” This was Giacomo Bologna.
Rocchetta Tanaro is a calm, tiny town immersed in the hills of the vast “green sea” of Monferrato. Less known than the neighboring Langa, this area boasts the same ancient tradition of winemaking, but with a different leading grape varietal: Here, barbera, not nebbiolo, reigns supreme. It seems as though the varietal comes from nearby Rocchetta, in the comune of Nizza Monferrato, where documents are kept that attest to its ancient origin and where some of the most important Barberas are made today. The varietal then spread throughout the region, to the point of becoming the most cultivated grape in Piemonte, forcing legislators to create three different Barbera denominations: Barbera d’Asti, Barbera d’Alba, and Barbera del Monferrato. Today, the Braida estates cover about 100 acres of vineyards that are located across the area but concentrated essentially in Rocchetta. In this specific town, you will find the Bricco dell’Uccellone vineyard, which over time has become the symbol of Barbera (and not only Barbera d’Asti). Located at the top of a hill composed of clay soil, not far from the city of Rocchetta, the vineyard gets its name from an old woman who used to live there. She used to always dress in black and was ironically referred to as “l’Uccellone,” a local word meaning “crow” or “black magpie.” Another interesting anecdote is that for years, the people of the area debated whether the gender of barbera was masculine or feminine, because in the Italian language, it could be either. In the end, as with any great compromise, it was established that the barbera grape would be considered masculine, while the wine, Barbera, would be feminine. And this is how the wine acquired the nickname “Lady in Red,” referring to its seductive character.
The harvest of Bricco dell’Uccellone takes place in October. The yields are extremely low, owing in part to the fact that the vineyard is very old and not very productive. The maceration on the skins traditionally lasts for exactly twenty-two days and the pulp is pumped over the must a second time. The wine is then placed primarily in new oak, where it rests for at least twelve months. The Barbera d’Asti Bricco dell’Uccellone is bottle-aged for another year before it is released.
Bricco dell’Uccellone has a relatively high alcohol content (13.5 percent to 14.5 percent, depending on the vintage) and an intense ruby red color with a violet tinge, characteristic of barbera grapes grown in this area. On the nose, it has a joyful mix of red fruit and spices, with strawberries, cherries, sour cherries, blackberries, and blueberries. In the mouth, it is both elegant and powerful, as only the best reds are: The typical acidity of the grape varietal is rounded off thanks to the taming effect of oak aging. The wine is full on the palate, with great equilibrium. After Bricco dell’Uccellone, other producers have come out with other successful and well-liked Barbera wines. However, the wine of Braida is still the quintessential wine of the area.
FROM THEIR VINEYARDS in Gattinara, the Antoniolo family brings us a taste of the other Piemonte. In many ways, these wines are the antithesis of a great Barolo. They are an inverse wine experience, drawing you in rather than shouting out at you. Osso San Grato is a Gattinara that in its own quiet way can be more demostrative than the great wines of Alba.
Piemonte is a region of many varietals and diverse terroirs. The southern part of the region, where the great Barolos and Barbarescos are made, has certainly become famous worldwide, and for good reason, but there are also other interesting wine production areas in Piemonte that are slowly gaining the attention of wine critics and wine lovers. One such microregion is Gattinara, where an eponymous wine is made with the nebbiolo grape.
Located about 50 miles north of Torino, Gattinara is not well known for its viticulture, even though it has had periods of notoriety over the centuries. After a golden age in the beginning of the twentieth century until the 1950s, wine and agriculture in general slowed because of internal emigration from the countryside to the cities. In the 1960s, during the so-called economic boom, there was a mass exodus from rural towns to the metropolitan, industrial cities. In Piemonte, for example, Fiat hired around a hundred thousand farmers, at the price of a patrimony of knowledge and know-how related to caring for the land that were gone for good. The triangle between Vercelli Novara, and Biella, at the center of which you will find a very high concentration of vineyards and cellars, was turned on its head and became an industrial center, considered avant-garde for its time and referred to as the “Manchester of Italy.” Luckily, not everyone in the country decided to give up their rural ways. The Antoniolo family, a close-knit group of vignerons known in the winemaking community since the 1940s, remained on their land, even when it became financially unsustainable.
Rosanna Antoniolo, the daughter of the founder of the cellar and doyenne of Italian winemaking for her sixty-plus years of experience, played witness to an important historical passage for Italian society. Called to manage her family’s company at a young age after the early death of her father, Rosanna, a woman in a man’s world, led the winery forward with the goal of making quality wines and introducing people to the “nebbiolo of the north.” Despite her geographical distance from the epicenter of Piemontese winemaking, Rosanna Antoniolo knew how to build a company on long-term goals. She employed the concept of cru wines—wines made with grapes from a single vineyard, a practice that came into use in the 1970s, even before her fellow winemakers down in Alba. She also focused on a traditional winemaking style, allowing for the maximum expression of the particular characteristics of the northern soil. Today Antoniolo is synonymous with Gattinara, and Gattinara is synonymous with an enological renaissance. The real work of the Antoniolo family, however, has been their defense of local biodiversity. Although many wineries have embraced modernity, at Antoniolo, winemaking is culture, memory, and faith in tomorrow.
When talking about the wines from Gattinara, one often uses a simple, perhaps simplistic, expression to get the idea across: “northern Piemonte.” This term oversimplifies the wines because it places Gattinara in a larger geographical context, which includes all the microwinemaking regions found north of Torino. Gattinara is a vast area and difficult to define because it is not flat, it is not exactly hilly, and it is still not mountainous, even though the area has climatic and morphological characteristics of all three. It has a strong winemaking culture that was briefly interrupted mid-twentieth century and that had to be rebuilt in recent years. Thankfully, the region had two things going for it: nebbiolo and the terroir. There is little to be said that hasn’t already been said on the first: “Her majesty,” the grape itself, has lent her adaptive grace and quality to the wines of Gattinara. The terroir is what remains—not having been consumed by the artisanal, industrial, and commercial human activities—a very little amount, but enough to give the landscape its character. The soil is made up of volcanic rock, which shouldn’t be surprising after the recent discovery of Valsesia (the valley beginning at the base of Monte Rosa and leading down to Gattinara), a so-called supervolcano that was active a couple of million years ago and that is considered by geologists to be the largest of its type.
In 1974, when Antoniolo released their two selections of Gattinara, Vigneto Osso San Grato and San Francesco, a wave of praise arrived from critics and fellow winemakers. The company made a decidedly innovative choice in a time when wines were generally categorized by type, and not by specific vineyard. The Antoniolo family was looking ahead and knew that sooner or later, the concept of the cru would come to define modern taste and wine culture. They also began producing a third cru wine, Vigneto Castelle.
The Osso San Grato comes from an 11-acre vineyard above the town of Gattinara; it is made of volcanic soil and able to produce around 5,000 bottles a year. The vinification methods are focused on bringing out the character of the soil. The must is left to rest on the lees for fourteen days, and the wine is then transferred to large 3,000-liter oak barrels, where it remains for at least thirty-six months.
The resulting wine is unique. The color is an intense granite red. The aromas are austere and earthy, recalling the humidity of the forest floor, dried violet, and sour cherry. In the mouth, the wine is strong, but incredibly elegant, a real symphony of acidity, tannins, and pleasure.
THE DAMONTE BROTHERS, Massimo and Roberto, never seem to stop. After having opened an elegant farmhouse hotel just outside the town of Canale, Piemonte, and having become leading producers of Roero wine—which was awarded a DOCG denomination in 2005—the men are now focused on enlarging their winery and vineyards. If you ask the brothers why they haven’t decided to slow down, they will respond, in unison, that Roero is a young terroir. It is gaining fame and has the chance of establishing itself as Italy’s next great wine region.
The history of Roero, and of Malvirà, is actually quite interesting. The winemaking district defined as Roero is located just a few miles from the world-famous crus of Barolo and Barbaresco. Although nebbiolo is grown in all three regions, Roero remained outside the important national and international wine circuits, selling most of its wine unbottled to merchants from nearby Torino. In the 1950s, even Massimo and Roberto’s father would transport demijohns to the city or welcome Sunday day-trippers into their old farmhouse, located in the center of Canale. The Damonte cascina, or farmhouse, was famous among locals for being mal girata, or “turned strangely,” because the courtyard of the home faced north, not south as was the tradition. In fact, this is where the name of the winery, Malvirà, comes from. With Italy’s economic boom came a new generation of vignaioli, or farmer/winemakers, who took over the family business and decided to focus on producing quality wine. The youngsters of Roero began looking more carefully at the Langa wines from across the Tanaro River, and they began to travel and select the grape varieties best suited for the territory. They also discovered that the principal difference between Roero and the Langa is that the soil is far sandier on the left bank of the river—in Roero. Because Roero is at a lower altitude than the Langa, it spent much more time under the marine waters that covered much of northern Italy centuries ago. The water caused limestone sediments and sand to deposit in the soil: As you walk through the Malvirà vineyards, it is not uncommon to find a shell or a fossil of a fish. In the 1980s, the Malvirà family decided to divide their vineyard between two grape varieties: arneis, a native white wine grape (whose name comes from a vineyard owned by the Damonte brothers called Renesio), and nebbiolo, the most famous grape of southern Piemonte. Since the 1990s, Malvirà is, together with Matteo Correggia, the most famous brand in Roero: The two wineries are 100 yards from each other, and together, the ambitious young winemakers have turned Roero into an internationally recognized wine zone.
Do not attempt to look for Roero on a map of Piemonte, because it will not be there! The recognition of the territory—not only in terms of wine, but also in respect to the region’s history and culture—is so recent that people are still getting accustomed to the name. For a long time, Roero was simply referred to as the left bank of the Tanaro River, which separates the clay-soiled crus of the Langa from the sandy vineyards of the Roero. Today the rive gauche is creating a fame of its own, thanks to the work and intelligence of its more forward-thinking wine producers. The Damonte brothers were the first winemakers to identify which vineyards were best suited for which types and varieties of grapes. For over ten years, Massimo and Roberto have produced three different single-vineyard types of Arneis, and the same philosophy goes for their top two reds: Roero Trinità and Roero Mombeltramo. The latter comes from a 4-acre east-facing vineyard located at around 1,100 feet above sea level, with characteristically sandy, calcareous soil. In their 104-acre property, the majority of which is located around the winery, forming a large, natural amphitheater, Malvirà has begun experimenting with so-called light production methods: Organic certification is just a matter of time, but the company is currently involved in protecting the health of the soil and the grapes with natural manure fertilizer, careful pruning, and general reduction of stress on the plant. Even in this respect, the winery is on the forefront for the region, improving the quality of the environment that weighs heavily on the final quality of their wines.
Roero Mombeltramo Riserva is a relatively new wine for the company, but the concept behind the wine can be traced back much further in history. It comes from the recent split from Malvirà’s famous Roero Superiore, with which the company made its name at the beginning of the 1990s. Now Malvirà produces two red Roero Reserves: Trinità and Mombeltramo. Both wines cannot be released, according to regulation, until three years after harvest, putting them in line with Barbaresco in terms of aging time.
Mombeltramo Riserva is a nebbiolo with extreme elegance and measured power. It is the perfect testimony of the land it comes from. The soft, calcareous soil gives the grapes their unique character, which in turn gives the wine its fruity aroma. When drunk young, the wine can be enjoyed for its delicate tannins and finesse. After a couple years of aging, the earthy, austere notes of this wine become harder, and harder to find.
It is difficult to classify Malvirà in a precise category of winemaking—given that there still are any—because its wines are modern in their conception, but the use of tonneaux for aging their wines is quite original, compared with the methods of their fellow winemakers in Roero and the Langa. The Damonte brothers’ decision to focus on quality has also allowed them to define their own style based on the grace, harmony, and attention paid to this special territory.