A Conversation with Domenico Clerico

Few producers’ wines have given me as much pleasure over the years as those of Domenico Clerico. Based in Monforte, Clerico has been turning out spectacular Barolos since the mid-1980s. I find a spirituality and character in these wines that puts them in a class with few peers. Although a visit to Clerico’s cellar is always at the top of my list of things to do when I visit Piedmont, on this evening we sat down at La Pizza Fresca in New York’s Flatiron District. I brought bottles of the1989 and 1990 Ciabot Mentin Ginestra that we tasted over several hours. Clerico is one of Piedmont’s most passionate vignerons and is blessed with a talent for telling a good story. As expected, the conversation was lively and punctuated by a healthy dose of humor.

Antonio Galloni: Thanks for taking the time to sit down and talk about the wines.

Domenico Clerico: It’s good to be back in New York, the energy in this market is so invigorating. I wasn’t sure I would make the trip because I hadn’t been feeling great, but I am glad I came. Perhaps over the years I’ve made the mistake of not coming to the US enough. I still believe in our domestic Italian market but New York really has a level of passion and enthusiasm that is its own.

AG: How did you get interested in making wine?

DC: My father had some property when I was growing up, although it was nothing special. He made a little wine, but it was for domestic consumption. Even though it wasn’t that long ago, those were very different times. The 1960s and 1970s were an incredibly depressed period in Piedmont. No one had any money and young people left the countryside in droves to work in the cities. My father tells me Monforte was hit by hail nine years in a row. I reply that if we had severe damage from hail two years in a row today we would be ruined (laughs)!  Agriculture was mixed and it was normal for growers to farm an assorted variety of crops. Times were hard but we always seemed to get by. During the 1970s a lot of Nebbiolo vines were ripped out in favor of Dolcetto, which was much easier to sell.

I started a small business selling olive oil. For a year I lived out of a truck trying to sell that oil. My father wasn’t doing so well, so in 1979 I came back home. I bought a small plot in Bussia and made my first Barolo, called Briccotto Bussia. The total production was 1,300 bottles.

In 1981 I bought 3.3 hectares in Ginestra. The property was owned by two brothers, Fiore and Mentin. Fiore was businesslike while Mentin was much more boisterous. He could always be found at the local bar telling tall tales about his heroic exploits as a fighter pilot during the war. Needless to say I found him much more agreeable (laughs). I named my Barolo after Mentin and the house that sits in the vineyard, which we call ciabot in Piedmontese dialect.