Mario Marengo

Exploring Brunate is the first in a series of articles in which I will take an in-depth look at the historically famous vineyards in the Barolo and Barbaresco production zones. I chose Brunate because it is a vineyard that is owned by many producers, so it is possible to taste several interpretations of this site. I was curious to learn if the wines shared any common traits or if the producers' styles and/or vintage might overwhelm the specific qualities of the vineyard. There are three tastings in this section: a horizontal tasting of the 2000 vintage Brunate Barolos, Elio Altare's Barolo Brunate vintages 1999-2001 and Marcarini's Barolo Brunate vintages 1996-2001. Note that some wines appear in more than one tasting in this section and in Issue 2 overall. I have included notes of each wine as I wrote them for each specific tasting. Some of the notes and scores for the same wine will vary because the context of the tastings was different. By all accounts, Brunate is one of the most storied vineyards in Piedmont. As far back as 500 years ago, Brunate had been identified as producing wines of special character. An old map from the 1477 La Morra land register shows the town's vineyards as they were known at the time, including Brinata (Brunate), Rocha (Rocche dell'Annunziata), Gateria (Gattera), and well as other well-known crus. By comparison, we have to wait until 1505 to see La Serra and 1524 to see Cerequio officially recognized. Brunate is located on the border between the towns of Barolo and La Morra, although most of the vineyard is considered to belong to La Morra. Brunate features a mostly southern exposure although some portions face southeast. The vineyard measures about 25 hectares and altitude ranges from 353 meters to 239 meters. Manuel Marchetti of Marcarini says the wines of Brunate are usually “austere, yet ethereal, notes of spices, mint, licorice, and balsamic are all very typical.” In fact, many of the wines do show those flavors. Davide Asselle of Roberto Voerzio says “Brunate is a bit like people from here. We can be tough and cold at first, but then we warm up over time.” Within the context of La Morra Barolos, the Brunate wines may seem tough initially, but they possess sweet tannins that make the wines relatively accessible with age.