2022 Langhe Nebbiolo

Paolo Giordano’s 2021 Barolo signifies the arrival of a major talent. This small estate is located in Monforte’s Perno district, just opposite vineyards that belong to Rocche dei Manzoni and Mauro Mascarello. Paolo and Ileana Giordano farm five hectares of vineyards, half near their home and half a bit lower down the road. Ileana Giordano’s grandparents bought the farm in 1939. They had been making wine since 1923, first buying grapes from Clemente Clerico, her mother’s cousin and Domenico Clerico’s father. The family made wine until 1984 under the Fratelli Seghesio label (not to be confused with today’s Seghesio winery), when they decided to cease operations and rent their vineyards to other producers. Over the years and decades that followed, the Seghesios sold fruit to several top wineries. In 2015, Paolo Giordano left his job in Alba as a software programmer in the robotics industry to focus on wine and spend more time at home, opening a new chapter for the young couple.

The Giordanos operate out of a tiny garage winery underneath their home. Despite its small size and no-frills setup, the cellar is clean, equipped with high-quality casks and temperature controlled, a sign of seriousness and commitment to excellence that I wish was more common in Italy. Paolo Giordano made his first two vintages (2018 and 2019) at Benevelli, where he worked for two years prior to striking out on his own.

There is one Barolo, a blend of the two major soil types present here: marl and sand in lower elevations and marl, sand and clay in the upper sections. It spends about 30 days on the skins with natural ferments, followed by another 20 days of submerged cap maceration. The wines are drawn off the skins and racked back into tank, for the malolactic fermentations, then naturally settled before being moved into cask at the end of the year or early in the year following harvest. Time in cask is 18-24 months. Because of tiny production, the first Barolos (vintages 2018-2021) were done with co-fermented fruit from the two sites and aged in 10hl casks. Even with their thick staves, the smaller casks mark the Barolo with some oak tannin, especially evident in the recently bottled wines. That changes in 2022 and 2023, when production increased to the point where the vineyards are fermented separately, and the wine is aged in more neutral 35hl casks. Both of the younger vintages are promising. The Langhe Nebbiolo is also terrific. It sees 25 days on the skins, with no submerged cap maceration and then 6-8 months in wood, depending on the year. Giordano is a name to watch.