Critics reviews
Antonio Galloni - Wine Advocate - Issue#187 Feb 2010
About this WINE
Vietti
The Vietti family has been producing wine for four generations in Castiglione Falletto, at the heart of the Barolo area. Carlo Vietti founded the winery in the 1800s and his son Mario and the next generations carried on his legacy, focusing on improving the production.
Then, in 1952, Alfredo Currado (Luciana Vietti’s husband) was one of the first to select and vinify grapes from single vineyards (such as Brunate, Rocche and Villero). This was a radical concept at the time, but today virtually every vintner making Barolo and Barbaresco wines offers “single vineyard” or “cru-designated” wines.
Today, the winery is in the hands of Luca Currado Vietti and is considered to be one of the very best Piedmont producers. Their wines are highly sought-after, with beautifully designed labels as well as wonderful wine. In 1970, Alfredo and Luciana decided to support to some local artists and have selected labels turned into artworks. Artists such as Gianni Gallo, Eso Peluzzi, Pietro Cascella, Mino Maccari, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Claudio Bonichi, Valerio Miroglio, Pierflavio Gallina, Gioxe de Micheli, have had their works displayed to a much wider audience via the bottles of Vietti wines. In 1996 the most recent artist series label came from American realist Janet Fish on Vietti’s 1990 Barolo “Villero.” The whole collection of artist labels was shown at the Museum of Modern Art of New York
Nebbiolo
Nebbiolo is the grape behind the Barolo and Barbaresco wines and is hardly ever seen outside the confines of Piedmont. It takes its name from "nebbia" which is Italian for fog, a frequent phenomenon in the region.
A notoriously pernickety grape, it requires sheltered south-facing sites and performs best on the well-drained calcareous marls to the north and south of Alba in the DOCG zones of Barbaresco and Barolo.
Langhe Nebbiolo is effectively the ‘second wine’ of Piedmont’s great Barolo & Barbarescos. This DOC is the only way Langhe producers can declassify their Barolo or Barbaresco fruit or wines to make an early-drinking style. Unlike Nebbiolo d’Alba, Langhe Nebbiolo can be cut with 15% other red indigenous varieties, such as Barbera or Dolcetto.
Nebbiolo flowers early and ripens late, so a long hang time, producing high levels of sugar, acidity and tannins; the challenge being to harvest the fruit with these three elements ripe and in balance. The best Barolos and Barbarescos are perfumed with aromas of tar, rose, mint, chocolate, liquorice and truffles. They age brilliantly and the very best need ten years to show at their best.
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Description
The 2006 Barolo Castiglione is frighteningly outstanding, considering it is Vietti’s entry-level Barolo! There is incredible density and power in the glass as waves of fruit caress the palate with tons of richness. Sweet menthol, flowers and spices add complexity to the long, stupendous finish. In 2006 the Barolo Castiglione is a blend of fruit from Bricco Fiasco (except for the lower part of that plot), Ravera, Fossati and Bricco Ravera. All of the estate’s Barolo-designated vineyards that weren’t bottled separately were used for that vintage’s Perbacco, a selection process I wrote about extensively in my recent profile on Vietti on www.erobertparker.com. The Barolo Castiglione is usually approachable pretty much upon release, but in 2006 the wine has so much fatness it will probably benefit from a few years in bottle. Barolo is never inexpensive, but the Castiglione is as good a wine as readers will find for the money.
Antonio Galloni - Wine Advocate - Issue#187 Feb 2010
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