Tag Archives: Barolo
Old vintages: the Langa mentality
I am taking inspiration from the post by Franco Ziliani on his popular blog vinoalvino to talk about old vintages and the attitude toward them of Italian wine producers as compared to the rest of the world. This is a topic that touches me personally, since I have a lot of old bottles of Barolo dating from 1944 and I think that Rivetto is one of the few Langa wineries to have such fortune. The mentality of wine producers in this area has never been turned toward this kind of investment: in recent history, vine-dressers/farmers were focused on achieving the maximum profit … Continua →
Are you ready? The Barolo Serralunga 2008 is on its way!
2008 is a vintage that will fill you with big emotions. The cool September of that year ensured this Barolo extraordinary vegetable notes and notable acidity, guaranteeing increased ageing potential. After an almost fruity and immediate vintage like 2007, we are returning to a more classic Nebbiolo with a grand character, distinguished by fantastic tannins that allow us to predict extraordinary development over time. It is comparable to the 2004 vintage, although the 2008 production level was lower. Our Barolo Serralunga 2008 comprises three vineyards located in the municipality of Serralunga d’Alba: Manocino, which guarantees coolness thanks to its north-west exposure while the … Continua →
Prowein 2012: an exceptional trade fair
I am back from Dusseldorf, where Prowein just came to a close. In my view this is the best European trade fair in the wine industry. Founded as a fair for German importers, over time it became the point of reference for professionals from Northern Europe, Eastern Europe and Canada, with producers coming from all over the world but especially France, Germany and Italy. The stands are relatively small, the appointments concrete and fast, the visitors are generally high-calibre and the transport organization admirable. I did not see many people from Asia this year, but it must be said that … Continua →
Is enology dead? No, not at all…
The title of this post was taken from a song/anthem of the Alba Enology School, which I attended more than ten years ago, together with 19 classmates. Once a year, the mythic 6a B gathers together for a dinner, remembering our shared past. We find that someone has a few hairs less and a few kids more, but the gathering serves most of all for comparing the viticulture experiences that we have developed over time. For those who don’t know about the school that I completed in 1998, I will try to explain it in brief: it was one of the … Continua →
The Fermentation of the Briccolina
With the grape harvest completed, all of the bunches of grapes have been picked and all of the basins have begun to ferment regularly. The Barolo Nebbiolo from the Briccolina vineyard is no exception, a site located in the best area of the municipality of Serralunga d’Alba. The fermentation takes place in a vat for at least forty days, the wine pressing is done manually and the addition of sulphur is almost nil. The intention is to give the maximum expression to our magnificent terroir; we are adopting an ancient method of wine making to obtain a Barolo that is … Continua →
We are Getting Started with the Nebbiolo Tips
Project NEBBIOLO TIPS continues. This is in fact the second harvest year in which the points of the Nebbiolo grape bunches have played a starring role. The idea is to obtain a very high level, classic method sparkling wine, 100% Nebbiolo. It is precision harvesting, painstakingly conducted by expert hands and done in such a way as to not cut the part of the bunch that will remain attached to the plant. Why are we harvesting just the tips? Simply put, because they are more acidic and guarantee greater freshness for the sparkling wine base, while the remaining part will … Continua →
Grandpa Sergio Remembers – Part Two
The conversations that my dad had with his partners in the kitchen, which served as a place for a little of everything, where there were always loaves of bread and an inevitable bottle of wine, were primarily on the theme of work that needed to be done, but would slip like clockwork to episodes from the war that had just ended, which had involved all of the families in a tragic way. Partisans, Republicans, Fascists, Nazis, Germans, survivors from Albania, from Russia, from Greece. One spoke of deaths, executions, reprisals. During the holidays one participated in the great pantalera handball … Continua →
Barolo Vertical Tasting – Live, Taste, Love (Part Three – Love)
Love. Because if something is the fruit of an act of love, there is a difference. It’s perceptible and does not pass unobserved. An almost instinctive act, that of putting something aside that is close to being finished, that is becoming scarce, but that one cares about, becomes a far-sighted and generous act. The bottles that were uncorked for the Barolo Vertical Tasting were all of this and much more. Throughout the tasting these bottles told the story of a family, of a territory, of fifty years of farm economy and commercial dynamics that, even if no longer in practice, … Continua →
Barolo Vertical Tasting – Live, Taste, Love (Part Two – Taste)
Taste. Images from the first three rounds of the Bartolo vertical tasting from 2001 to 1958. The journalists and buyers participating in Nebbiolo Prima were commenting on the vintages together with Sergio, Alessandro and Enrico, but the real protagonists were the wines. Helmut Knall, Monica Larner and Subhash Arora were tasters in the first round. Ola Dybvick, Gianluca Mazzella, Fabio Cagnetti, Christian Wenger, Otmar Kiem, Martin Kilchmann, Gerhard Eichelmann, Edoardo Patrone, Pierluigi Gorgoni, Tim Felkner, Davide Oltolini, Brad Vanderpool and Robbin Gheesling were tasters in the second round. Diego Sorba, Alberto Rizzo and Andrea Terraneo were tasters in the third … Continua →
Barolo Vertical Tasting – Live, Taste, Love (Part One – Live)
For Julia Roberts in her recent film they were “Eat, Pray, Love”. Three words are sometimes enough to describe a philosophy of life, as in this case, or as in ours, an event and its contents. After the Barolo vertical tasting from 2001 to 1958, organized in our wine cellar and part of “Afternoons of Nebbiolo First”, the words “Live, Taste, Love” came to my mind. Live like the comments of the journalists and buyers hosted by Albeisa who participated in the vertical tasting, an experience not to be missed, a bit for curiosity, a bit for learning, since the … Continua →
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