Giacomo Fenocchio would also qualify under the criteria of this list: definitely traditional and makes a Langhe Freisa as well.
You’re right. I’ve never seen it. Evidently it’s sparkling, as many freisas are from areas to the east of the Langhe. Maybe the criteria should be that they produce a still freisa.
I’ve had a couple of bottles of the 2006 Kye from Vajra in the past few weeks. It’s drinking great…
Hmm - I do keep meaning to buy a bottle of this to try, preferably pre-aged.
And Scarpa.
and G. Mascarello
Seems to be a lot of Barolo interest here lately, so time for a good bump.
Happy reading, first-timers!
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Thanks for the bump Brady. I have another sabbatical this Spring semester so I will try to update the OP in the coming months.
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Appreciate your hard work Pat
I love this thread and refer to it fairly regularly.
I would suggest that Clemente Guasti should be in the traditional list, rather than leaning modern. I visited them in 2014 and they use REALLY old Slavonian oak botti. Their cellar is one of the dankest and funkiest I’ve seen, and there was seemingly nothing modern about their winemaking processes. Not sure about their maceration times, though.
Thanks Andrew. I’ll take a look when I get back. I’m in Napa right now.
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What makes a maceration time traditional vs. modern? Are some traditional producers known for longer maceration times (e.g. Roagna)?
I believe I used a two week cutoff. Traditional producers easily hit that mark.
Traditional was generally in the 21-30-day range. But Burlotto’s Monvigliero gets 60 days on the skins. Counter-intuitively, it’s one of the most feminine Barolos. (The grapes are pressed by foot.)
At the other end of the spectrum, using roto-fermenters, some in the modern camp left the grapes on the skins as little as 7-10 days, though I think there’s a move away from really short macerations. Silvio Grasso, which was in the modern category, still stays in the 10-15-day range, depending on the bottling.
A lot of other producers who were were firmly in the modernist camp and still age their wines in barrique now say they use 30-day macerations. For example, Azelia’s Bricco Fiasco stays on the skins four to five weeks, but ages in small barrels for 24 months.
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Could could use an extended maceration time with roto fermenters to great a more extracted ‘modern’ wine? I.E., maceration time alone is not as relevant as the methods used alongside?
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As I understand it, the point of the rotofermenters was to get color and flavor quickly without a lot of harsh nebbiolo tannin, but a Italian ITB friend told me some years back that research showed their use came at the cost of a lot of complex aroma components. I would guess the short fermentation meant that the skins were subjected to lower levels of alcohol for shorter periods, and alcohol can help extract things from skins and seeds.
Bottom line: The roto-fermented wines weren’t more “extracted” in the sense of dense. And they were typically used with some new barriques, so there was wood tannin added, so it was hard to say technique affected the wine in which way. But, as people have tasted the modern-style wines from the 90s as they’ve evolved, producers seemed to have moved away from the most extreme parts of the modern protocol, extending maceration times and reducing the use of barriques.
A fair number of producers are at least experimenting with macerations longer than a month, and not just in the Langa. It seems to work really well for Aglianico, for example. For my taste, long macerations and large oak is perfection for all the Italian classic ‘big reds.’
Interesting.
Oliver – Do you know about the science of roto-fermenters, and how the wine that emerges from them is different even before it goes into wood?
I know only two things about roto-fermenters, firstly that they were used by the ‘Barolo Boys’ in the Groovy '90s to change the texture of Barolo by ‘working’ the must a lot with the machine during a very short maceration (perhaps 5 days); and secondly that my very traditionally-minded producer Cavallotto uses them now to effect his ideal fermentation/maceration, 30 days or so with one ‘turn’ a day only. Alfio Cavallotto says that Nebbiolo has very ‘slippery’ skins, making managing the cap difficult. He has found that the roto-fermenter does the job perfectly, and I have to say I love the texture of his wines. Other than that the vinification is entirely traditional, and of course his intention is to honor the long history of the estate with the kind of wines he’s producing.