Barberani’s Orvieto Classico
Superiore Luigi e Giovanna

Orvieto is unlikely to be the first wine name that comes up when
the subject of Italy’s ageworthy collectibles is broached. In fact, very few
wine lovers are aware that the best examples of this historic white wine actually
have good capacity for development and improvement over time. Orvietos from the
likes of Barberani, Sergio Mottura (more precisely, his single-vineyard
Grechetto wines) and Palazzone are all cases in point, offering delicious
drinking experiences even six to eight years after the vintage. Unfortunately, as
an ocean of lean, unremarkable or downright insipid Orvietos has been produced
for decades, the category has a reputation for everyday, easygoing quaffing
wines at best.



















Given the high quality across Barberani’s entire range of
wines, with no duds whatsoever, I believe it is Umbria’s best estate. So it
won’t come as a surprise when I also state that Barberani has always made some
of the best and most ageworthy Orvietos of all. Siblings Bernardo and Niccolò have
taken over the day-to-day management of the winery from their parents Luigi and
Giovanna, who were responsible, with the help of star consulting winemaker
Maurizio Castelli, for putting Barberani on Italy’s quality wine map. Therefore,
it is fitting that the Barberani’s top wine, the Orvieto Classico Superiore
Luigi e Giovanna, is named in their honor.

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1460347485692-barberani+vinesandCover.jpg"> The picturesque hills of Orvieto

Making an Orvieto Classico Superiore that could age gracefully
and rank among Italy’s best white wines had always been Luigi’s objective; he
firmly believed that wines made with the local Grechetto cultivar could age
better than was commonly thought. Various trials were made over the years, and
in 2011 the first vintage (2008) of the Orvieto Classico Superiore Luigi e
Giovanna was released. It was immediately clear that the Barberani family had
succeeded in meeting their goal, and then some. Even today, the 2008 remains
one of the most magnificent Italian white wines of the last 20 years. 



















The Luigi e Giovanna is always a blend of 90% Grechetto and
10% Procanico (a high-quality local biotype of Trebbiano Toscano used in small
quantities to provide acidity to Orvieto blends), with roughly 10,000 bottles
made a year (but only 2,800 in the first vintage). It’s aged in three 28-hectoliter
ovals (one Austrian and two French), jokingly referred to in-house as the
“three sisters,” as Niccolò and Bernardo have found this barrel size to be a
much better fit for Grechetto than barriques, the oak of which tends to dominate and to
exacerbate Grechetto’s tendency to display a phenolic edge.

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1460347500144-Bottles.jpg"> 

Most important, Luigi e Giovanna is an atypical Italian
white wine not just because of its ageworthiness but also because about 5% to 10%
of the Grechetto grapes used in the blend are affected by noble rot. The use of
botrytized, shriveled grapes in the production of dry white wines in Italy is a
rarity, making the Orvieto Classico Superiore Luigi e Giovanna one of Italy’s
most Alsace-like wines. No other viticultural zone in Italy is as blessed when
it comes to noble rot as Orvieto. Thanks to the nearby Tiber and Paglia rivers,
the man-made Corbara lake, and wide temperature swings between early and late
morning as the mists and fog dissipate, the noble fungus runs rampant here most
autumns. In fact, the words muffa nobile (Italian for noble rot)
are an integral part of the official DOC designation for Orvieto late-harvest
wines (and in fact are indicated on the labels of these wines: Orvieto Classico
Superiore Passito Muffa Nobile). Readers should note that of the six vintages
of Luigi e Giovanna made to date, it’s the 2008, 2011 and 2012 that are most
marked by Botrytis cinerea. In these
three vintages, 10% of the Grechetto grapes were hit by noble rot. In the other
vintages, it was only 5% and the wines are clearly different as a result.Despite the presence of noble rot, the Luigi e Giovanna wine
is always vinified dry, offering a marvelously suave, rich mouthfeel while
remaining graceful, penetrating and classically dry. And although this may
surprise some readers, it is also a very traditional wine. Even if a first taste
might bring Alsace to mind, the Luigi e Giovanna is in fact a throwback to
Orvieto’s oldest, most typical winemaking heritage. Already during the days of
Ancient Rome, Orvieto wines were famous for their luscious sweetness, and even
in more modern times the majority of Orvieto wines were never completely dry
but rather off-dry (amabile in
Italian), with grapes always partly affected by noble rot. Only in the mid-20th
century, when resolutely dry wines became the norm—if not a fad—all over Italy
did the wines of Orvieto change and become the light-bodied, crisp, classically
dry wines they are today. At least in Orvieto’s case, I’m not sure that this
was necessarily a change for the better.<a target="_blank" href="http://vinous.com/wines?wine_filter%5Barticle_id%5D=1354&amp;sort%5Bdirection%5D=asc&amp;sort%5Bname%5D=id">See all the wines in the order tasted</a>























This vertical tasting took place at the winery in Umbria at
the end of February.You Might Also Enjoy <a target="_blank" href="http://www.vinous.com/articles/vertical-tasting-of-il-marroneto-brunello-di-montalcino-may-2014">Vertical Tasting of Il Marroneto Brunello di Montalcino</a>, Ian D'Agata, May 2014 <a target="_blank" href="http://www.vinous.com/articles/vertical-tasting-of-mastroberardino-s-taurasi-riserva-may-2014">Vertical Tasting of Mastroberardino's Taurasi Riserva</a>, Ian D'Agata, May 2014 <a target="_blank" href="http://www.vinous.com/articles/the-best-new-wines-from-central-italy-mar-2013">The Best New Wines from Central Italy</a>, Ian D'Agata, March 2013 

-- Ian D’Agata

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