Very curious and would appreciate if people have recommendations on La Morra Barolos to try
I have only recently begun learning about wines from Piedmont, and so far have really enjoyed Barbarescos given how elegant they are. But recently tried a few Barolos from La Morra that I really loved, one being Francesco Rinaldi & Figli Rocche dell’Annunziata and the other wines from a vineyard named Burzi. They both were very floral & elegant (2020 vintage) and just really delicious.
Oddero’s normale and Marcarini’s Brunate (particularly) and La Serra both come to mind. (Oddero has vineyards in other villages, but a good portion of the normale comes from La Morra.)
Definitely look at Giulia Negri. She’s making some absolutely beautiful Barolo
Trediberri is price friendly and going from strength to strength! The top wine has great potential.
The base Trediberri Barolo is very approachable young and probably fits what your looking for.
My only concern with Trediberri is how they age. They don’t seem a particularly structured style, based on the normale.
Edited because I’d said prices were increasing but that may just have been where I was looking. I double-checked to verify and see that pricing hasn’t really moved that much.
One thing to be aware of in La Morra is that it was the hotbed for the modernist approach encouraged by Marc De Grazia among his producers (e.g., Silvio Grasso, Marengo, Corino, Altare), most of which were centered around Annunziata, on the lower slopes of La Morra, or across the road in Castiglione (e.g., Scavino).
But there were and are lots of traditionalists, like the ones I and others have cited.
Really good call out.
In Montalcino, I strongly lean towards traditional. Modernist heavy oak style is not my palate
In Piedmont, I’m not sure I have figured it out yet. I would say I still lean away from strong oak taste. But I really enjoy the Paolo Scavino wines I have tried and Bric di Fiasc in particular is incredible and I believe they use some barriques in process.
I’ll avoid diving too deeply into the traditionalist/modernist discussion, but there is an excellent thread on this board which loosely categorizes producers. Most of the modernists have eased off significantly since the Barolo Boys days. Personally, I find any new french oak on nebbiolo offensive. YMMV. Scavino reportedly now uses mostly large casks but still uses some barrique and maceration times are short, which is another modernist practice.
Yes, Scavino has pulled back on the barrique usage over the past 10-15 years. The winery discloses very little technical detail on their website, so it’s hard to know what exactly they’re doing now. But Skurnick, their importer, says they are still going with quite a short maceration and some small oak barrels. I’m not sure it’s up to date, though, as I recall hearing that Scavino doesn’t put all the wine into barriques these days.
8 – 12 days maceration, 20 – 30 days of alcoholic fermentation. … Aging 10 months in neutral French oak barrels, then 12 months in large casks, 10 months in stainless steel, 10 months in bottle before sale.
I had their ‘19 Monvigliero on Tuesday, and it didn’t seem overtly modern tasting blindly, but it did seem a little less precise than the seven other traditional makers’ wines alongside it.
'19 Scavino Bric del Fiasc felt plush and soft to me, especially compared to a '19 Azelia Bricco Fiasco I had next to it. But, I also didn’t get a sense it was overly oaky either.
I’m actually beginning to think the shorter maceration times are a bigger red flag than use of barrique (at least with recent vintages of Barolo) if you are looking for leaner, more structured, more precise wines.
The Rocche dell’Annunziata has a lot more depth, structure and complexity. Don’t know if it will age well for 30+ years, and I don’t really care as I like my wine on the younger side. But i am sure it will age beautifully for 15-20+ years.
The normale is certainly an early drinking Barolo. 2016 is drinking well now.
A friend of mine had the '19 Berri a couple of weeks ago and told me he was surprised how open it was.
I looked at the tech sheets and Rocche has 4 weeks of skin-juice contact while the Berri has 3 weeks (read an old tech-sheet when they still blended Capalot fruit into the normale and it was also 3 weeks). I’m guessing that plays a large role in the earlier accessibility. I also think the Berri vines are relatively young, which is probably another factor.
There is a much greater blend of all practices these days. I recently opened some 2019 tredibberi and giulia negris and while they were classic Barolos, they certainly borrowed from the current Red Burgundy playbook of having rounder and softer mouthfeels. Time will only tell how it all plays out
I quite like the Giulia Negri wines I’ve had, including the LN, which is a good value.
Are you talking about Scavino’s? If so, that’s a riserva, so it’s always been made in a different style.
Going to search out the LN - very much appreciate the recommendation
No Trediberri.