Nebbiolo

The 2010 vintage was perhaps more famous, yet young Davide Rosso reckons he made better wines in 2011. His Serralunga d'Alba is a blend of five or six vineyards dotted along the calcareous ridge, that together articulate the intrinsic character and quality of the village's Baroli. But then Davide is one of them, his family owning vines there and formerly selling off fruit for a century until he stepped up after leaving Alba’s Umberto 1 Oenology School to bottle the fruit, rather than give it away. A brilliant cranberry-red colour, this 2011 version is focused, despite the August heat, with a cool head of cold tea and strawberry, redcurrant and rose aromas. It's refined, delightfully poised, with great Ferrari-like ‘lines’. Fabulous transparency, a glinting cassis-note, racy acidity, exquisite balance and this has a sense of strutting about it. Difficult not to enjoy now, this will improve in bottle for a decade or so.

Since first bottling his family’s Serralunga d’Alba fruit in the late 1990s, Davide has rightly gained a reputation as one of the region’s finest (Nebbiolo) winemakers. He may not have the name or history of some of his famous neighbours but perhaps as a result he’s further incited to prove himself. That he is surely doing with a range of peerless Serralunga Baroli, traditionally and expertly made using stainless steel, cement and French oak botti. Fortune came his and his mother Ester’s way in 2011, as they inherited a hectare of Vigna Rionda — one of Serralunga’s top vineyards — completing the range perfectly

This gloriously feminine expression of Nebbiolo exudes purity and clarity. The nose is reminiscent of crushed dried petals, crunchy redcurrant and cranberry, layered with savoury undertones. The acidity is bright and finely balanced with the toned tannins. More approachable in its youth than Rabajà and Asili, it will still age with grace. Drink 2018-2024. 

Neive. Just mid ruby with orange tinges. A little backward yet full red fruit and maraschino cherry on the nose. Delicious, generous, supple red fruit with soft, bitter-sweet tannins. Gorgeously balanced and hugely enjoyable.
Walter Speller, jancisrobinson.com. 3rd May 2017. 

The 2011 vintage is the first release of the Minuto family’s Barbaresco Asili, from their tiny handkerchief square of vines (0.6 hectares), comprising 55-year-old vines. There is more sand in Asili, contributing a fine texture, along with mentholated, ripe, small, strawberry fruit. It's so pretty, so suave, with impeccable lines, and quasi-perfect balance; a joy, but still in its relative youth. It should age beautifully if you can wait. 

One of the oldest, and finest Barbaresco estates, Cascina Luisin is located close to the village itself, overlooking its prime vineyard of Rabajà. Son Roberto is gradually filling the shoes of his father Luigi Minuto: there has been a renovation of the large oak botti, with Austrian Stockinger oak, along with a new family reserves cellar for all those magnificent old bottles. Alongside the pretty Barbaresco Paolin and more structured Rabajà, this year we are offering the first release of their old-vine Asili.

First released as a single-vineyard wine in 1997, Verduno’s San Lorenzo vineyard is effectively an extension of the great Monvigliero vineyard, if lower down and on redder, sandy, clay soils. This aspect of terroir is clearly visible in the open, soft, red-garnet colour, and the warmth of its sandalwood and mandarin-skin aromas. It’s so gentle and charming, with sandy, suave, orange peel and spice. Only a few hundred cases were made from the small plot. 

Roberto’s Rabajà recalls the damp and then hot vintage, while expressing its prime, “front row”, west-facing, deep, grey, marne-clay soils perfectly. A darker, almost ruby red, it’s very, cooly composed, noble even, on the nose, with dried roses, black truffle and clove notes. Broad, emphatic and square-shouldered with lots of juicy flesh on those heavy bones, ensuring Rabajà’s well covered for the years to come as it ages in bottle.

One of the oldest, and finest, Barbaresco estates, Cascina Luisin is located close to the village itself, overlooking its prime vineyard of Rabajà. Roberto is gradually filling the shoes of his father, Luigi Minuto. There has been a renovation of the large oak botti, with Austrian Stockinger oak, along with a new family reserves cellar for all those magnificent old bottles. Alongside the structured Rabajà, this year we are also offering the second release of their old-vine Asili.

Roberto’s second vintage making Barbaresco from this celebrated cru. If sand is what characterises Paolin, and grey, marne clay Rabajà, then limestone is what surely distinguishes Asili. (Indeed, Asili could be said to possess the agility of Paolin with the complexity of Rabajà.) Whatever the similarities, it’s clearly beautifully balanced – the limestone element giving us masses of small, red fruit that have soaked up the hot August sun, rendering them tamarind like, decadent even, and complemented by new Stockinger oak botte. 

With a compact nose of gorgeous, red, strawberry fruit and Alpine herbs from Roagna’s Castiglione Falletto vineyard, this is fresher than the more decadent Vecchie Viti. Pira draws on the calcareous Castiglione soils to give not just juicy red fruit but also a sapid saltiness. Refined yet full, it brims with red-berry crunch and has a glint of cassis at its heart. 

From the blended Barolo Serralunga d’Alba we move up a gear to the single-vineyard Cerretta. Noticeably more focused and more resolved than the village Barolo, this is darker plum in colour, suave, soft and generously fruity on the nose, with neat, bright intensity. One is struck by the volume of fruit on offer; succulent kirsch, currant and dark cherry, with such clean lines.

While the Rosso family’s Vigna Rionda vineyard may now be the most sought-after, it’s their Serra vineyard, on bright, white, talc soils just across the road that consistently catches the eye. Beautifully poised with salty, red-cherry fruit freshness and such focus. While Cerretta delves out the plummy fruit in abundance, Serra is more sinewy and highly strung, like a thoroughbred race horse. This is pure, red rose essence. 

The stony, chalky minerals of this renowned site in Serralunga d’Alba come through on the nose and palate, adding to the precision lent by defined tannins and clean acidity. Layers of crunchy red fruit, smoky spice and rich plums hint at the complexity to come with time in bottle. 

“There is only one Bruno Giacosa. No one will ever make wines like these. It's as simple as that.” Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

Cited as one of Barolo’s finest vineyards, a definite Grand Cru if & when the authorities get round to classifying the zone, Vigna Rionda is to Serralunga d’Alba what La Romanee-Conti is to Vosne-Romanee. It’s a vineyard that combines perfect exposure, soil, altitude & in Davide’s case old vines planted in 1946. The Giovanni Rosso cantina’s 1 hectare was inherited in 2010 from Davide’s cousin, Tommaso Canale, who had previously made & sold off the wine to the likes of Bruno Giacosa to bottle (as ‘Collina Rionda’).

Given the state of the vineyard, planted not just with Nebbiolo but also Dolcetto & Barbera, Davide has already replanted three-quarters with Nebbiolo; the remainder being prime old Nebbiolo vines, priceless plant material but producing only circa 2000 bts per year until the new vines come of age (in 2020?). 2011 is therefore Davide’s first vintage making Vigna Rionda, vinified in static stainless-steel, cement & in single 16hl slavonian oak large botte. Full bodied yet at the same time so agile, profound, mystical even. Think about drinking from 2021 at the earliest.
David Berry Green, BBR Italian Buyer

Lustrous mid ruby. Quite intense nose of red fruit and oak and perfectly integrated. Still quite closed and backward on the palate with bags of powdery tannins. Powerful structure on the finish. Very long and balanced, yet undeniably oaky for the moment.
Walter Speller - jancisrobinson.com, Oct 2016

Round, supple and succulent, the 2011 Costa Russi is laced with dark red cherry, plum, mocha, cloves and new leather. The classic Costa Russi personality comes through in a soft, gracious wine with tons of near and medium-term appeal. The Costa Russi captures an attractive middle ground between the ripe, pliant style of the year and the medium bodied grace of Nebbiolo. I expect the 2011 will offer a long and broad drinking window of pure pleasure. Although Costa Russi is often the most precocious of Gaja's single-vineyard wines, it is the last site to be picked.
Antonio Galloni, Vinous, October 2014

Just mid ruby with orange tinges. A little more fruit driven than the straight Barbaresco. Cherry and raspberry with a cool edge to it and the merest suggestion of oak. Beautiful, supple, mid-weight palate of red fruit, and complemented with quite demanding tannins, at least for the moment. Precise.
Walter Speller - jancisrobinson.com, Oct 2016

We are once again fortunate to be able to offer the opportunity to buy three of Roberto's top Baroli. This year we are featuring the 2012 vintage and we are offering the wines in a mixed 12 bottle case.

This case contains:

5 x 75cl 2012 Barolo Rocche dell’ Annunziata
5 x 75cl 2012 Barolo Cerequio  
2 x 75cl 2012 Barolo Brunate

The ground was hotter in 2010, built up over the long season (as compared to the freshness of 2011), combining to give richer, more balsam notes. A longer, 35-day maceration, without the use of pressed juice, gave a sumptuously suave, free-flowing Barbaresco from the highest, Campo Quadro part of the San Cristoforo vineyard in Neive. There is a distinct distilled tea-tree, rosehip, clove and black-tea core to this gorgeous wine. It's got beautiful lines, very svelte with mocha or coffee bean, along with redcurrant skins.

Destined to be an engineer thanks to a family construction business, Marina rebelled and headed to the vineyards on the family’s 17-hectare estate overlooking Neive, following in the footsteps of her grandmother. Trained in viticulture, she turned the property organic in 1982 (certified in 1993). All the vineyards are grassed over, with the fruit being vinified traditionally in both cement and stainless steel, before being aged in a combination of used French tonneaux and Slavonian botti. She has three Barbaresco vineyards: Basarin, San Cristoforo and San Cristoforo Campo Quadro.

Emphatic, broad, darker, this has hints of liquorice, tamarind, clove and rose; even of animal. It brims with nuance, while the palate – for now – is dominated by kirsch cherry, a compôte of distilled stone-fruit, of mentholated, dried fruits. This needs time.

Manuel assumes charge of the defiantly traditional, 12-hectare Marcarini estate, along with his three children. Central to this historic, 19th-century cantina, based in central La Morra, with sweeping views over their vineyards below, are the two Barolo vineyards – La Serra and Brunate, of which they own fine plots.

Pale cherry-red, the nose swoons with delicate notes of camphor and fresh, wild Amarena cherry, along with a fragrant rose-water character. To taste, this glides: it’s so pretty, so effortless with gentle redcurrant fruit and tannins so finely curated that they’re invisible.

Darker cherry and brambly in character, with plum ice-cream, the 2011 Cannubi has great power of fruit on the palate. It shares the E.Pira trait of being cool, with a certain hint of Italian summer herbs, full-bodied and tannic on the finish.

E.Pira was one of Barolo’s most historical producers until the Boschis family bought it in 1980, transforming it overnight into one of its most modern. Chiara Boschis is at the helm, producing fruit-forward wines that give you more of everything: more extract, colour, acidity, alcohol and oak. She mollycoddles her organic vineyards as if they’re her children. Recently joined by her brother, Giorgio, the estate has now grown to 8.5 hectares.