Yet another visit to Piemonte with thoughts, tasting notes

WINE TALK
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I went to Verduno specifically to understand this. Have you been there? Have you looked at a topographical map? Did you listen to Fabio Alessandria in that video? It seems not.

Monvigliero, circled in red on the image below, is an outlier within the commune. It’s at the far northeast end of the prime vineyard land, effectively on its own small ridge, with the river plain wrapping around it on the east/Roddi side. The other nebbiolo vineyards of Verduno are on the slopes around the village or on a separate rise to the southeast of Monvigliero (Breri and San Lorenzo), with different exposures and further from the river.

Fabio explains Monvigliero’s uniqueness clearly: it’s the soil and the diurnal temperature swings due to the river’s influence.

(Sept. 22: I’m adding a photo of the Monvigliero ridge, which extends from the northwest edge of the rise on which Verduno sits. The Tanaro lies between Monvigliero and the distant ridge. As you can see, the Monvigliero ridge tapers off at the right. I assume that allows the cooler air from the river to come around the base of the vineyard, where the small road to Alba runs.)
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42

Time to post my notes from Verduno, I guess.

On my last visit to the region, in 2011, I made it my mission to look close up at as many famous vineyards as I could. Maps in hand, I drove along the small road that divides Brunate and La Serra in La Morra and navigated past Giuseppe Mascarello’s monopole Monprivato and Cavallotto’s monopole Bricco Boschi in Castiglione.

(There are risks to this, as some of these vineyard roads are better suited to Land Rovers or tractors than to European subcompacts. I bottomed out repeatedly on the steep, rain-rutted dirt road to the hamlet of Cerequoi – it was more of a gully than a road – before dead-ending in the middle of some derelict farm buildings. I was worried I’d lose part of the transmission, or a wheel, on the climb back up. But what the hell – it’s a rental car, right? Epilog: Five years later, the dilapidated barns and house have been converted to a luxury agriturismo. That’s the recent history of the Langhe writ large. I assume the road is now paved so the Mercs and BMWs can make it down the hill.)

This trip I saw Ceretta and Prapo on my visit to Germano, checked out Cannubi and other key crus in the commune of Barolo and meandered up through Bussia and back along the Rocche di Castiglione ridge.

But, as I said above, my priority was to check out the Monvigliero cru in Verduno, which has yielded some of the most unique, subtle Barolo I know in the hands of Burlotto. Verduno, which covers a small area at the northern edge of the DOC, has often been overlooked.

My first stop, on Aug. 31, was at Fratelli Alessandria, where Vittore Alessandria poured and shared his thoughts. I knew their excellent pelaverga – a grape grown only in Verduno – but I have little experience with their Barolos. This has been an oversight on my part.

2015 Dolcetto d’Alba: Nice black cherry nose, though not as ripe as some other dolcettos I tasted. Narrower in the mouth, too. It doesn’t excite at this point, but it wouldn’t surprise me if this fleshed out in six months.

2014 Langhe Nebbiolo: Seven-to-eight-day maceration at a lower temperature than the Barolos, then 10 months in botte. Lovely floral nose. Medium concentration with good tannin and acid. A very good outcome from this vintage.

2012 Barolo Monvigliero: Gorgeous nose, with lots of celery and milk chocolate (!) – quite a contrast to Burlotto’s strawberry nose. In the mouth, the strawberries arrive, with real concentration and a backbone of tannin and acid. 93 for me. A standout 2012 and the similarity on the palette to Burlotto’s bottling – that distinctive strawberry note that always calls to mind Chambolle-Musigny to me – really demonstrates the unique terroir.

2012 Barolo Gramalore: From the far end of the Barolo zone in Serralunga. Deeper, tighter on the nose. More depth, more masculine. Spices in the mouth. Lots of grip. In short, very Serralunga-ish. Very good. 91/92.

On my way out, I asked the best way to see Monvigliero and Vittore offered to walk me up to the small park at the crest of the village, which has a wonderful vista east and south. From there I could see how Monvigliero lies on its own south-facing ridge, with its back (north face) facing over the Tanaro River. The river cools the vineyard, he said, unlike the other Verduno sites, which are closer to the village.

Two days later I returned to Verduno to visit Burlotto, one of the highlights of my 2011 trip. (Here’s my posting from that visit.) I spend two hours tasting and chatting with Fabio Alessandria, who personifies the Langhe wine culture for me: He wants to work within tradition (e.g., pressing by foot and 60-day macerations for the Monvigliero, all bottes for all the Barolos), but he experiments, too. He also shows the almost paradoxical qualities I’ve found over the years in most great winemakers – modesty and an acceptance of uncertainly side by side with conviction. You can see that quality in him and Vittore in that video I linked to above.

2015 “Dives”: Here’s the non-traditional side: a sauvignon blanc aged in acacia barrels. Strong sauvignon grass scents on the nose. In the mouth there’s some citrus peel and great acidity. Refreshing.

2015 Dolcetto d’Alba: Fabio said he wasn’t a big fan of their dolcetto and always felt it could deliver more, so he began experimenting with whole clusters – a rare practice – he said. At first he used 10% but by 2015 it was up to 60%. Dolcetto stems are unusual, he said – they often lignify (turn brown) before the fruit is fully ripe, causing ripening problems. No such problems here. Wonderful dark plum fruits on the nose and in the mouth. Quite concentrated with good tannin. “Wonderful and satisfying,” I wrote. A benchmark dolcetto and another indicator of the pleasures 2015 holds in dolcetto and barbera. (Another think I learned: Enrico Dellapiano at Rizzi later told me that dolcetto stops ripening if the nights are not cool.)

2014 Barbera d’Alba: There is no “Avis” special selection in 2014. Bright fruit, toward the darker end of red. Quite full and ripe. Ample fruit to match the good acidity. Another surprising success in 2014. The richness near reminded me of Fabio’s achievement in coaxing fruitiness out of freisa.

2014 Freisa: Fabio works wonders with freisa, often producing something that reminds me more of a chewy Dolcetto di Dogliani than a rustic, chalky freisa. He told me in 2011 that it’s essential to pick quite ripe. Burlotto’s freisa is typically picked at a higher brix than nebbiolo, he told me this month, though it’s harvested around the same time as the nebbiolo. Tight at first, but with some nebbiolo-like scents. This freshly opened bottle opened up after a few minutes. Lots of fruit, lots of tannin. “Yummy” I wrote. It’s made the same way as the Nebbiolo Langhe.

2012 Barolo Acclivi: A blend of Verduno vineyards, including Neirane, which they used to bottle as a single vineyard. Floral scents and red fruits on the nose. Lovely balance, more toward red fruit in the mouth. Elegant – lots of finesse, but with depth and structure. I liked this better than earlier vintages I’ve tried. Another bottling that shows it’s a mistake to be too hung up on single-cru Barolo. 91++ (Burlotto also makes a Barolo classico, but I did not sample that.)

2012 Barolo Monvigliero: The object of my quest. This has the signature strawberry and cinnamon notes I love, and it’s very open for business now. Layers of aroma there. Gentle in the mouth – softer tannins than most of the other wines I tasted, with medium body and red cherries. Very harmonious, even though it’s still holding back again. 92++

2012 Barolo Cannubi: From mostly east-facing vines near Cannubi Muscatel, just north of the town of Barolo. Tight on the nose at first, but some red currants come up. More tannic and tight in the mouth than the Acclivi or Monvigliero, as the 2007 was on my prior visit. Great grip. This is more of a vin de garde. I didn’t write down a score. It gives less pleasure than the Monvigliero at this point, but is plainly a serious wine.

FYI, Greg dal Piaz liked the 2012 crus here, giving the Monvigliero and Cannubi 92 and 93, respectively. It seems that neither Daniel, Howard nor Ken visited Burlotto or Frat. Alessandria this summer, so I don’t have their notes to compare.

Fabio compared 2011 and 2007, as both years had warm springs and mild summers. He noted that ’09, ’12 and ’15 all had warm summers, though the wines ultimately turned out differently. The summers were cool in 2013 and 2014.
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43

Or you could just concede that the producers know what they’re talking about.

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Exactly what is it that makes you think I don’t?

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Anders, mind you, Oliver is in the business hence he knows very well that all producers know what they are talking about.

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In this particular case though, I think he is right about trusting the producers. What puzzles me is why he (and apparently John as well) thinks I disagree with anything they say in the video John linked to.

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What’s next ?

  • Langhe turned into Beverly Hills with every Fattoria turned into a mansion with pool and a Lambo parked outside ?
  • Americans not wearing chinos/khakis and blue shirt on a Friday (both clearly oversized). This is good.
  • Nostalgia on when you could speed under the influence in the Italian province because it is so cool and it feels like the '60s ?
48

No, I know that some producers know what they’re talking about, the challenge is finding the right producers. But they certainly know more than I do.

49

Because when I first quoted the two winemakers explaining the uniqueness of the site, you questioned how the proximity to the river could possibly be a factor. Their explanations weren’t enough for you.

Then, when I (a) posted the video with Fabio explaining that the river was a crucial factor and (b) created a map to show you, you went on to say:

Which is simply not true geographically (look at the map above) or in the temperature effect (listen to the video).

So we were left with the impression that you were thick as a brick and would not let the matter go.

50

I think we may have already reached that point, judging by the Agriturismo.It listings for Cuneo province.

Oh, dear. Are khakis bad in Italian eyes? I thought Italians only judged me by your shoes. And I remember your railroad conductors had very natty khaki suits back in the 90s.

I wasn’t intent on speeding, actually – certainly much less so than some of the native drivers I encountered. But in the micro-Lancia I was driving, I was concerned about spinal injuries if I hit a poorly marked bump at even 20 kmph.
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51

This thread is heading quite a bit off track. Back to the wines? [beg.gif]

52

I didn’t go to Verduno specifically to understand this. But once there, this was certainly something I wanted to understand.

As I told you in a prior post already, I stayed in Verduno when I first visited the area back in 2003. As I told you in the same post, I stayed (for two weeks) on top of Breri, just below Monvigliero. Moreover, I have visited Verduno at least once every other year from that point onwards. I tasted the Monvigliero of Burlotto as well as Castello di Verduno already on my first visit and I have in due course tasted the versions of five other producers as well (Fratelli Alessandria, Bel Colle, Paolo Scavino, Mauro Sebaste, and Terre del Barolo), in most cases in several different vintages. In many cases, I have also chosen to buy, cellar, and eventually drink quite a few bottles of what I have tasted. One significant reason is that I found, and still find, this vineyard particularly fascinating.

Moreover, I have tried, and in some cases bought, cellared, and drunk, quite a few of the Baroli made from the less well-known vineyards of Verduno, such as the “normale”, Neirane, and Acclivi of Burlotto, the Massara of Castello di Verduno, the San Lorenzo of Fratelli Alessandria, the Pisapola of Giacomo Ascheri, the Riva Rocca of Claudio Alario, the Breri (though not labeled as such) of I Bré, and the Rocche dell’Olmo of Poderi Roset. Consequently, I think I have a fair idea not only of what Barolo Monvigliero tends to be like but also what the Barolo of Verduno in general tends to be like.

Second, I have carefully examined several topographical maps of the area, not just one or once. Not that this is necessary to get a pretty firm grasp of the topography of the part of Verduno that belongs to the Barolo zone. It suffices to take the SP358 from Roddi to the intersection at the southwestern end of the town of Verduno and then continue a short distance toward La Morra to get a good grasp of it all, as I have done on a very large number of occasions.

Finally, as I have made perfectly clear, I not only listened to what Fabio said in the video you linked to but also agreed with it.

Now that I have patiently answered your three questions in the positive, can you please specify on exactly what grounds it seems to you that the answer is negative?

No, Monvigliero is not an outlier within the commune, let alone at the far northeast end of the prime vineyard land in some more general sense. Nor is it on a small ridge of its own. There is one main ridge running through Verduno and all its vineyards descend in one way or the other from that ridge. With two minor exceptions (Neirane and Rodasca), the crest of that ridge simply constitutes the border of the Barolo zone in the area. And in La Morra, the zone extends about as far north as in Verduno and further west (which, rather than east, is the relevant direction when speaking about outliers in this western part of the zone).

Nor does the river or the plain in its immediate vicinity wrap around Monvigliero or any other part of Verduno on the eastern side. As you can see on the second of the two maps below, which provides a more extensive view of the surroundings than yours, the river continues eastward beyond Roddi and then turns north. However, as you can see from the same map, the river does wrap around Verduno by turning south on the western side. This in turn means, as I already mentioned, that all of Verduno’s Barolo vineyards are at approximately the same distance from the river. Moreover, the precise extent to which they are cooled down by the river at night must depend not only on the distance to the river but also on the direction of the wind.

Finally, with regard to exposure, I have already mentioned (in multiple posts, beginning with my second in this thread) that Monvigliero is better aspected (exposed) than most other vineyards, not only in Verduno but in the entire Barolo zone. So in that regard, what you say matches what I have already said.

Let me in conclusion quote what Masnaghetti has to say about the matter in Barolo MGA, p. 65:

"From the point of view of the township territory, Verduno can be seen as the northward extension of the ridge line of La Morra. A ridge, which attains fairly substantial altitude (just above 400 meters – or some 1300 feet – above sea level) before descending towards the plain, passing through the town center and rotating progressively eastward before settling at altitudes approximately 200 meters (some 650 feet) above sea level. The Eastern Slopes of this ridge, in its turn, can be divided into two sectors. The first runs from the border with La Morra to the gates of the village of Verduno and includes, in a sort of east-facing amphitheater, the vineyards of Riva Rocca, Boscatto, and Rocche dell’Olmo.

The second, in addition to being significantly larger, is also more open and luminous and is divided into two parts by the road which runs from Verduno towards Alba (…): on the left, in the higher part, we find Pisapola, Campasso, and Monvigliero (in addition to Rodasca, whose vineyards, instead, are largely north-facing); on the right, in an area on the average lower in altitude, we find Massara, Breri, and San Lorenzo di Verduno. This division into sectors is also confirmed by the character and personality of the wines insofar as – something substantiated as well by the testimony of the producers themselves – the wines of the MGA of the first sector distinguish themselves by more fruit and a deeper color, while those of the second sector present a lighter color, more open and floral aromas, and a structure of greater finesse, Monvigliero in this case being the exemplary wine. Though all of this Barolo bears the imprint of the elegance which is the trademark of this township’s wines."

You forget the third factor that Fabio mentions: the exposure, which makes Monvigliero warmer/hotter than most other vineyards in the vicinity during the day and thereby contributes to the diurnal temperature swings. So we have three factors that, when combined, explains why Monvigliero stands out: the soil, the exposure with attendant warmth/heat during the day, and the cooling impact of the river at night. Possibly, there are also other factors that play a part here, such as the altitude (lower than most others) and the slope (steeper than those vineyards that are still further down).

Now contrary to what you appear to think, I do not question Fabio’s claim that the three factors mentioned conjointly makes Monvigliero special. I just took the liberty, in the passage of my prior post that you quoted, to raise a question not answered by Fabio: Is Monvigliero really unique in each of the three regards compared to all other Verduno vineyards? And if not, what might be the most critical difference or differences?
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53

I am sorry John, but you simply have to read more carefully before posting. No, I didn’t question whether the proximity to the river could possibly be a factor when you first quoted the wine makers. I questioned it at a stage prior to that, when you said, without quoting the wine makers or any other source, that it was a factor, and doing so without explaining precisely how. Once you quoted the wine makers, I immediately accepted their judgment, as shown here. And once I had seen the video, where Fabio talks about a cooling effect at night only while simultaneously stressing the warmth during the day due to the exposure, so that the net effect of the two is stronger diurnal swings rather than anything else, I told you that it made even more sense to me, as shown here.

Again, you need to keep better track of the actual exchange as well as the actual geographical characteristics. First, you didn’t post your map until after I had said that the distance to the river is roughly the same everywhere. Second, your map is too limited to show what the situation is actually like in relevant regards. When we take a wider view, as the second of the two maps I posted immediately above allows, we can see that you are wrong about the river “wrapping” Monvigliero or any other part of Verduno on the eastern side and that you overlook that it does wrap the area on the western side, thereby making the distance to the river roughly the same across the board.

As to the video, I heard Fabio say that the cooling effect of the river is part of the explanation, together with the soil and the exposure, for the special qualities of Monvigliero, and I believe he is perfectly right about that. What I didn’t hear him say is that no other vineyard in Verduno is cooled down at night by the river. Nor did I hear him say that no other vineyard has the same kind of soil.

Finally, as to being “thick as a brick”, I leave to others to decide to whom that epithet properly applies.

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I think the “thick as a brick” thing refers to me, as I am certainly too thick to wade through all the prose in the previous 2 posts.

Thanks, John, for taking the time to write up your notes and experiences. Much appreciated since I usually have to purchase before I taste. Just ordered the 2012 Vajra Bricco (Morrells’ sale – 20% off and free shipping with no tax makes it a deal in CA). I’ve also got the 2012 Burlotto Monvigliero on order. I"m somewhat curious as to why why Elio Grasso wasn’t on your list to visit (I don’t think Ken V. or Howard did either?) Are they seen as too modern? I’m a big fan of Vajra and Burlotto, but like Grasso equally. So I’m wondering if my tastes skew more modern sometimes than I know…Grasso’s Gavarini is the only other 2012 that I have ordered…

Thanks again for taking the time to write this up.

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That’s all right. They weren’t meant for you. When your position is attacked on unjustifiable grounds, you have a right as well as responsibility to say what it takes to put things in proper order. But I certainly do not expect everyone to be interested in this particular controversy.

56

You are not alone.

As for Grasso, I visited in 2004. I had a long list of places I wanted to go to, but I try each trip to visit places I haven’t gone to before (e.g., Cogno, Oddero, Cortese, Germano and Frat. Alessandria this time).

I don’t know if you saw this (contentious) thread on Grasso.

57

Thanks! That’s revealing. First you find it fit to spew out a set of unjustified accusations and snarky remarks based on a faulty recollection of how the exchange between us actually proceeded along with a faulty understanding of an entire array of other relevant facts. And when faced with evidence of both types of errors that you are unable to refute, you excuse yourself by saying that you are too “thick” to read what it takes to set the mess you created straight. So much for your claim that you are genuinely interested in understanding the matter and went to Verduno specifically on that ground. Sheesh! But no problem as far as I am concerned. Since all the evidence is on the table, I just rest my case.

58

That makes sense.

I remember reading through that thread at the time. Just reread it and it’s very interesting. I’m basing my Grasso purchases on some delicious 1999s that I had recently as well as some 2009s that, while a tad soft, (I expect due to the vintage) were quite delicious also. I’ll be interested to receive the 2012s and have a look see. Maybe I’m a new oak apostate after all.

cheers.

59

Anders–your obsessive nitpicking posts are making what would be very interesting threads impossible for me to continue to follow. whenever i see your name on a post, I mostly abandon the thread as lost. You obviously have a lot to offer, but please use some restraint and self reflection before you launch into another attempt to obsessively correct everything that has been said, even if it often does not need correction, and when your comments do not actually add anything. This is not a personal attack on you, but just an attack on your style.

There is actually a very similar poster, and a very similar issue currently on the vinous board, to the extent where I briefly wondered if you were the same person, but I think not. Also a person with a lot to offer, but without a filter to realize what contributions would be useful in a group discussion, and what not.

60

Bickering aside, I’ve enjoyed the posts from both John and Anders in this thread. Lots of good detailed information on Verduno and Monvigliero, in particular.

John, please keep the trip report coming.