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Argiano is many people’s touchstone Brunello. Tucked away in the far south-western limits of Brunello production, away from the main clusters of estates, the late Renaissance hilltop villa of Argiano looks down on its vineyards. Monte Amiata hulks nearby. It’s a spectacular site, with a long history of winemaking – there have been vineyards on this hill for at least 500 years.
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Cantina Bartolo Mascarello is one of Barolo’s most revered domaines. It was founded in 1919 by Giulio Mascarello, who had been trained by his father Bartolomeo, the cellarmaster at the Cantina Sociale di Barolo. In a novel move at the time, Giulio borrowed money and started his own winery. In those days it was still relatively easy to acquire great parcels in great vineyards. Giulio was followed by his son Bartolo, who had spent the war years fighting the Germans as a partisan in the Langhe hills.
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The rolling hills of Conegliano Valdobiaddene are the heartland, the Classico if you will of Prosecco production. But it isn`t just a monoculture. there are south-facing vineyards interspersed with forests on the northern slopes and meadows and fields in between.
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When we first visited Bruna Grimaldi in Grinzane Cavour, we felt we had met a young winemaker of real promise. Simone was doing everything you would want to see. all the vineyards converted to organics in 2014; the new but traditionally appointed winery; modern training, all married to a respect for the traditional culture and wines of Piedmont which comes from being the fourth generation farming these hills.
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If Bruno Giacosa is such a great winemaker, why has he only made wine in 16 out of the last 20 vintages? Honesty and integrity are vital elements of quality, and Bruno believed that in 91, 92, 94 and 06 he didn`t have the quality he needed to produce exceptional wines and so he declassified his single vineyard `crus` entirely. That takes both courage and integrity, and demonstrates why Bruno is taken so seriously. Now in his early eighties, this meticulous vigneron has worked in his family`s vineyards and cellars for almost seventy years.
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The Cabutto family bought the La Volta farm back in 1920. Nestled by La Volta castle (it`s known as the `abode of the devil` due to some particularly wild legends) the winery overlooks the town of Barolo. For an estate of its age and size - they control around 20 hectares of vines - it is hardly known in the UK at all. They work rigorously in the vineyards and while they follow a very traditional path, the cellars are bang up to date. Tasting here, you can see why these wines became so highly prized by other winemakers. (EE 10/07/19)
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Dott. G. Cappellano is a very singular company. They invented the medicalisation of Barolo with the Chinato and members of the family spent time in north Africa, especially Eritrea and Tunisia researching phylloxera-resistant vines. Teobaldo also began the custom that visiting critics should not score the wines, though they can write as expansive tasting notes as they like. His son and current incumbent Augusto continues that proud tradition. Ignore it and you`ll never visit again.
The wines themselves include a range og Barolo from grafted and ungrafted vines.
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Castello Romitorio went from Roman fort to monastery to stately home to fort again, all by the Rinascimento. Subsequently it led a shabby life and was completely abandoned after the Second World War. It was purchased, and an attempt at restoration begun in the 1970s, but in 1984 the Chia family bought it. Sandro - a famous artist - was the instigator who first rejuvenated the estate and now his son Filippo has for some time been working to realise the full potential. 2015 is perhaps the year that shows these great vineyards at their best.
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Cerbaiona is a name to conjure with in Montalcino. Tucked away in the eastern edge of the commune, this small, favoured estate has long produced some of the most sought-after of any Brunello, from only 3 hectares of old vines. It has been well-established at the head of the pack since the 1980s, but has a much longer history. There have been highly regarded vineyards on this site for hundreds of years - the name ‘Cerbaiona’ was known and sought after before anyone ever asked for a ‘Brunello’.
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Corte Sant`Alda is Marinella`s enterprise and she farms biodynamically to both protect the environment and to make intense but fresh and drinkable wines. Adalia is farmed organically; the intention here is to combine the healthiest possible farming together with affordability. Marinella considers biodynamics as the gold standard in both the vineyard and cellar but this is an expensive method of farming; Adalia was set up with her daughter to provide great wine at a good price. The farm buzzes with life. -
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The inimitable Domenico Clerico is perhaps not the first master Piedmont winemaker we feature that spring to mind at a moment`s notice. Domenico is a man who would probably have a short career in retail but he`d go down a storm on a City trading floor. One visitor who claimed to be something of an expert was given three samples at the start of his interview. After discussing the differences in the three terroirs apparent in the samples, Clerico showed him the identical bottles they had come from and terminated the appointment. -
It is Novello’s premier estate, and a rising star in Barolo - it also sits smack in the middle of the great Ravera cru. Elvio Cogno founded his eponymous winery when he already had most of a lifetime’s experience making Barolo behind him; these days, the winery is very skilfully managed by his son-in-law Valter Fissore. Cascina Nuova is a glorious and approachable wine made from a selection of the youngest vines in Ravera; Barolo Ravera is the winery’s calling card, made from some particularly old vines.
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Thanks to the Alessandria family, the once under-the-radar village of Verduno has been firmly put on the map. While the family has been making fine Barolos here for five generations, quality has never been higher than now; under the stewardship of current incumbent Vittore Alessandria, the estate`s profile has soared. Vittore can seem like a pretty serious fellow, till he breaks into a huge smile and stops trying to hide the fact he loves what he`s doing. And he`s got reason to be pleased.
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Serralunga is the most south-easterly commune of Barolo, and Giovanni Rosso think of themselves as a Serralunga producer as much as a Barolo producer. The family has owned vineyards here since the 1890s, but only bottled under their own label since 1995. They still aren`t as well known as they deserve to be - as Jamie Goode writes, `While this isn`t one of the best known Barolo estates, it is one of the best`. Ambitious and upcoming he may be, but Davide Rosso, who took over in 2001, is no Barolo modernist. He works organically whenever possible. -
The one word to sum up Mascarello would be tradition. Established in 1881, it appears very little has moved on, both with the wines and the family. All the work is done in the vineyards with meticulous attention to detail and in the winery their philosophy has changed little over the last century. There is no chance of them following trends for new French oak or rotary fermenters; they continue to produce wine the only way they know how. In the winery (an old ice house) all the automated stainless steel tanks say ‘emergencia’ on them and even this is ignored!
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Il Poggione is one of the founding estates of the Brunello di Montalcino Consortium and has been selling wine since the early 1900s. The estate is still owned by the family, with Leopoldo and Livia Franceschi in charge these days. The day to day running is under the control of Fabrizio Bindocci, who has worked there since 1976 and is the current president of the Consortium.
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As my colleague Zoë said once about Stefano Inama- `well, he puts the suave into Soave!` But there is much more to Stefano than the role of charmer. Much happier as farmer, he manages the family domaine with meticulous farming practice.
Whenever I want to show a foreign visitor just how good Soave wines can be, I never hesitate to open any of the estate’s very fine white wines, especially the Soave Classico du Lot (rich, deep, judiciously oak-aged, and of a Burgundian complexity) or the Soave Classico Vigneti di Foscarino (leaner, crisp, lemony, mineral).
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Andrea Mantengoli is adamant about a lot of things, but particularly about his Brunello. You must be organic, is one essential part of his philosophy. He explains that the terroir is so good that not only don’t you need ‘chemical poisons’ to produce fruit, but that they’ll destroy the identity of the wine.
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Oriental carpet traders Luigi and Paola Lorenzi bought a holiday house in the commune of Gavi and it is easy to understand why. La Zerba is the highest estate in the area with incredible panoramic views surrounded by vineyards. They have since given up the day job and converted the garage into a winery to produce excellent Gavi from 30 year Cortese vines planted on iron-rich soils. The wine is aromatic and refreshing yet rich in personality. The Lorenzis are exceptionally generous hosts and Paola is the most fantastic chef.
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The most striking thing about visiting the home vineyard of Le Potazzine is the sense of altitude; at 507 meters it is higher than most Montalcino vineyards, exposed and open to the winds from every direction. Some modern-styled Brunellos don`t taste as if they have been made with Sangiovese; but no danger of that here, where the high vineyards bring a welcome freshness and balance to the final wine.
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Lisini is among Montalcino`s most respected estates. They are also one of the most traditionalist, as befits a family who have a history that goes back to the time of the Medicis; they are proud to say they are the last of the region`s founding families still making wine here. Their estate is one of the few in the south-west of the region, surrounded by woodland and wild scrub; it is a warm area, but their vineyards are high up, and the combination of altitude, complex soils and low-yielding, old-vine Sangiovese gives a wine of rare expression. -
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It is common to classify the big names of Barolo by whether their winemaking is traditional or modern, but Sandrone like to think of themselves as bridging the gap. This is a first generation winery; in 1977 Luciano Sandrone bought a small patch of the Cannubi vineyard, and has been gradually adding to it ever since. He made his first wines in his parents` garage. From humble beginnings have come great things. The Sandrone Cannubi Boschis was one of the first Italian wines ever to get 100 Parker points, and remains Sandrone`s flagship bottling. -
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The Accidental Vineyard
The Colleonis are from Bergamo, which apart from an old castle and a Ryanair connection doesn`t have much to recommend it. so they bought a lovely property in Tuscany. One day they spotted a bunch of grapes poking through the leaves of a tree and eventually hacked their way through to an ancient and long unkempt vineyard. This has become a labour of love and a provider of some of the best and most exciting Brunello and Rosso. In the cellar only natural yeasts are used and maceration is over a month in duration. (CW 09/07/14) -
The Alto Piemonte village of Gattinara lies tucked into the hills between Turin and Milan. In the modern era, Barolo and Barbaresco (90 km south) hog the Nebbiolo limelight, but in the 19th century some of Italy’s most sought-after Nebbiolo came from Gattinara. Locally, Nebbiolo is called Spanna, and there is a clear stylistic difference with Barolo and Barbaresco. Slightly lighter-bodied Gattinara relies less on sheer power, and more on perfume and elegance. Yet with tangy acidity and sometimes formidable tannins, the wines of Gattinara have a long capacity to age.
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Pietradolce is an 11 hectare estate located on the northern slopes of Etna, founded in 2005. Their vineyards are between 600 and 900 feet above sea level andare made up of stoney, light, sandy loam. The native varieties are grown here (Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio and Carricante), to produce terroir expressive wines that are intensely bright and fresh with beautiful fruit and serious drinkability. (DS 08/04/22) -
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The affinity between Tuscan soils and the classically Bordelais grape varieties is now well-established, and in gravelly coastal Bolgheri, where Sangiovese never grew very well anyway, Bordeaux varieties are king; this is a terroir for Cabernet and Merlot, the Super-Tuscans. Nowadays there are 50 wineries in Bolgheri, but you don`t have to go that far back to reach a time when there were only two. Cabernet Sauvignon came out of the shadows with the first commercially released vintage of Sassicaia in 1969; Grattamacco joined it in 1977 as the second-ever Super-Tuscan. -
On the south-facing slopes of Montalcino’s warm southern sector, it can get very hot. But on the high slopes where Poggio di Sotto’s vineyards are planted (vertiginous views if you ever visit) it can also get very cold at night, with the hulking presence of Monte Amiata and the nearby River Orcia drawing sea breezes down the valley. Such contrast between day and night temperatures is increasingly viewed as an essential ingredient in truly great wines.
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The late Giuseppe Quintarelli was a traditionalist but that pales into insignificance beside his search for truth and excellence in his wines. whether the early drinking white, though the incredible depth and complexity of his Amarones, he crafted and indeed love his wines as the sons he never had. His four daughters are now custodians of his extraordinary legacy, but his genes are as much in his wines as in them. He raised his wines through a painstaking regime in the small and old fashioned cellar and was always loth to part with them.
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It`s been a while since we visited the dapper Marco Bacci or his estates in Castelnuovo Berardenga, Montalcino and the Maremma. In fact, it`s 9 years, which means two things. first, that Marco has an even more youthful look about him in our photo than he does in reality and second, that the wines have moved on considerably. Although we saw great promise back then, by 2006 Renieri had only been in Marco`s possession for 5 years, and so it was very much a work in progress. Today, what were then new plantings are reaching maturity.
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Although they have their family roots in Barbaresco, the Roagnas also operate in Barolo to great effect, managing both terroirs rather brilliantly. The first Barbaresco vineyard - Pajè - was purchased in the fifties and the company has grown steadily since then. The farming is uncertified but strictly organic, with low inputs and the use of techniques like cover crops between the rows of vines. The use of sulphur dioxide is very low and fermentation and the very long macerations take place in large, old casks.
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`One of the most emotionally transcendental experiences I have ever had` - Wine Advocate, how about now? `Roberto Voerzio`s Barolos are some of the richest, deepest and most texturally beautiful wines readers will come across`. When it comes to this estate, there`s no shortage of superlatives. If Scavino and Clerico are jewels in the crown of Barolo, then surely Roberto Voerzio is the Koh-i-Noor. Roberto is a true grower, cultivating the vines on his ten hectares of La Morra organically and pretty much individually. -
When it comes to Chianti, there`s no estate we love more than Rocca di Montegrossi. Parts of Tuscany can look quite manicured, but there`s a romantic wildness here; the vineyards and olive groves are beautifully tended, but the soils are rocky and the forest encroaches. The estate is in the heart of the original Chianti Classico zone, in the commune of Gaiole, equidistant between Florence, Siena and Arezzo - owner Marco Ricasoli-Firidolfi likes to describe his wines as `Gaiol-ish` in character. -
In the early 1980s, Romano Dal Forno had a lot on his plate. he was struggling to make a living from his family winery, while looking after three young children. He knew the wines he was making were good, but he couldn’t shake the feeling they were missing something. Fate intervened when one Bepi Quintarelli took him under his wing, and shared everything he knew about winemaking. ‘I listened to everything he had to tell me and tried my level best to understand what he was doing’. These were lessons well learnt.
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Based in the southern Marche, the family seat of the noble Saladini Pilastri family is near the town of Ascoli Piceno. It is situated in over 300 hectares of land, though less than half of this is down to vines. The limestone hills also host large olive groves as well as forest and scrub. This hot and dry landscape is ideal for the practice of organic viticulture and that is exactly the farming method employed here for ages. The family has been custodians of the land in this part of Italy for over a thousand years and has a deep respect for the environment where they and others live.
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Francesco Leanza bought Podere Salicutti in 1990.This is a simple statement that does not begin to convey the state of ruin in which he found the property. The only thing intact was the potential. There were a couple of old contadini (peasant farmers) living in the house - no heating, hot water or cooking, just an open fire. The olive groves were in disarray and a lot of vineyard needed planting and sorting out. In 1997 he moved in and looked forward to becoming a winegrower, in fact Montalcino`s first organic winegrower. He still lives in that house and he still lives very simply.
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Wow. It is very rare to find so focussed a family operation, especially when that focus is so determinedly on absolute quality. Their winegrowing regime points two ways. They are very modern in the vineyard, reducing yield to very low levels by harsh pruning and manicuring the few remaing bunches so that the grapes at harvest are perfect. Then again in the cellar they are ultra traditional with extended barrel aging and relaxed wine making so they make tiny quantities of intense, elegant wine with layers of flavour but no sign of extraction. -
A family winery is a warm place to work, says Emanuela Bolla; then she admits with a laugh that it can sometimes be a challenge to keep all her relatives on board with every decision. Serio e Battista Borgogno has been on the scene since the nineteenth century, occupying a commanding position on the ridge above the Cannubi vineyard. Emanuela and her cousin Federica are quick to point out that being traditionalist does not mean a one-vintage-fits-all approach; `every year we like to question everything like it`s the first time`.
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There are few - if any - more romantic stories in wine than that of Giuseppe Sesti. Having studied fresco painting in Venice, on graduation Giuseppe found that there was little demand for his skills. Instead, he dedicated himself to the study of astronomy, going on to write five books on the subject. By 1975, long before biodynamism had entered the vinous vocabulary, he`d published tables of the small and larger moon cycles for agricultural use in order to reduce the use of chemicals on the land.
Along the way, he met a posh Shropshire girl called Sarah.
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Massimo Lentsch and his family are one of the members of the nearly 600 year old `I Vigneri` guild. In accordance with their traditions vines are densely planted, but individually trained up untreated chestnut poles, not along wires, in a quincunx pattern. Viticulture is very much according to biodynamic principles, but without certification. Tenuta di Castellaro is all about the winemaking heritage of Lipari; recovered sites, and a mix of old vines and new plantings. They make wine from indigenous varieties naturally suited to the volcanic soils.
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Located on a part of the Tuscan coast that alternates between marshland and stony areas, Tenuta San Guido was bought by the Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta in the 1930s as, thanks to drainage works and a bit of clearance, the zone was becoming less susceptible to malaria. Large parts of the estate were either suitable only for hunting or reserved for race horse breeding, but during the 1940s work began to plant out some of the drier, stonier areas with vines.
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Campania is the region of Italy around Naples, with a dramatic coastline and wild, mountainous interior. It also has a unique range of indigenous grape varieties that date back to classical times. Once upon a time, this was one of the most prestigious wine regions anywhere; local Aglianico and Greco di Tufo grapes were responsible for Falernian, the most prized (and costly) wine style of the Roman Empire. In the twentieth century, the region became synonymous with Mastroberardino, the producer who tirelessly championed local varieties and kick-started southern Italy`s wine revolution.
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Three friends – Tre – and a vineyard in Berri. hence they are the “Trediberri” Berri is a small hamlet in the westernmost part of La Morra, located in the Langhe hills of Piemonte, close to the Tanaro river. It lies at the extreme western edge of the Barolo region. Here, in 2007, Nicola, his father Federico and their friend Vladimiro, acquired 5 hectares of vineyards. At Trediberri there are no fixed protocols in the winery, they vinify in cement, wood, or steel depending on what suits the vintage. They change the length of barrel age, again, depending on the vintage.
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Vittorio Graziano hadn`t touched a drop of alcohol before falling for the charms of a local girl when he was 18, who also introduced him to the joy of wine. This led to a four day hangover but also imbued in him a love of things vinous. He worked a miserable existence as a clerk, pen-pushing and living entirely indoors. When he was reminded how many years he had to wait for pension and release he immediately rebelled and went to become a winegrower. The family plot was a not very massive half hectare of old vines so he set about increasing the area under his control.
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When Walter Massa took over his family farm at the end of the 1970s, he was bowled over by the intensity of the wine he made from his Timorasso grapes. Five generations of the Massa family kept the last few hectares of the Timorasso grape variety alive in the steep hills just to the east of the town of Tortona in Piedmont, Italy. Once upon a time, Timorasso was praised as a noble variety and widely planted across Piedmont. It used to form the backbone of Gavi.
