2007 Barolo Brunate

Luca Currado describes his 2008 Barolos as "leaner, delicate wines with long, minerally finishes, close to pinot noir and more like the Barolos of the 1980s." He finds the 2005, 2006s and 2007s to be richer and more opulent. In my tasting here in September, the young 2008s were overshadowed by Currado's magnificent 2007s, which clearly benefited from a harvest on the early side, with healthy levels of natural acidity (in the range of 6 grams per liter). "Some later pickers had falling acidity levels in very warm conditions," noted Currado. "It's a mistake to consider 2007 as a hot vintage: the summer featured much lower degree days than 2006, and there were many cool nights in September."

Sadly the world lost Alfredo Currado – one of Piedmont's pioneers – last year, but I am sure he would have been thrilled to see how his son's wines have turned out. Luca Currado's 2007 Baroli are every bit as impressive from bottle as they were from cask. Interestingly, Vietti is one of the few producers where the house style and vineyard nuances are just as evident as vintage character. Although the 2007s are gorgeous today, most of the wines shut down quickly in the glass, suggesting they may be headed for a period of stubbornness. All of the wines now see a fairly lengthy period of several weeks of contact on the skins, followed by malolactic fermentation in French oak barrels and aging in large, Slavonian oak casks. Always curious to explore, Currado continues to make small adjustments to vinification, including an experimental 2010 Barolo made with a strictly traditional approach that may end up being bottled only in magnum. I think it is fair to say readers will be stunned by the quality of the wines that are emerging from this family run property in Castiglione Falletto. An upcoming article on this site will take an in-depth look at the estate's Barolo Riserva Villero. T

My annual tasting at Vietti typically encompasses 20+ Barolos from all of the vintages that are in barrel plus one or two in bottle. Year in year out, this is one of the most fascinating and educational tastings I do, as the wines are always incredibly representative of their respective vintages and terrains. The focus of this article was originally intended to be a close look at the individual component wines in the 2007 Barolo Castiglione, but all of Vietti's 2007s are so extraordinary it seemed a shame to leave them out. I can't think of too many estates in Piedmont that have raised the bar higher than Vietti has over the last decade or so. Virtually every wine that emerges from these cellars is outstanding, and many are profound. Winemaker Luca Currado, his brother-in-law Mario Cordero and their staff have taken the early groundbreaking work of Alfredo and Lucia Currado and built upon those successes, reaching an unprecedented level of consistency and quality across their entire range. Vietti is the only estate in Piedmont to own vineyards in all eleven of the Barolo-producing villages. Many of the parcels are located in the region's most historic and pedigreed sites. Currado crops his vineyards to low yields and is typically one of the earliest producers to harvest. All of the Nebbiolo vineyards are farmed, vinified and aged with the intent of making Barolo. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel. The wines are then racked into French oak barrels for the malolactic fermentations and finally moved into casks for aging, all of which vary from vineyard to vineyard. For example, of the single-vineyard Barolos the Brunate sees the shortest period of contact on the skins, the Rocche the longest. Similarly, the Lazzarito generally spends 3-4 months longer in French oak than the other Barolos. Prior to bottling, all of the individual lots are tasted and divided into three distinct selections according to quality. The 2007 Single-Vineyard Barolos The top selections Rocche, Brunate and Lazzarito are bottled virtually every year with the exception of harvests that are disastrously poor such as 2002, when Vietti did not produce a single bottle of Barolo. Year in year out, these are some of the greatest single-vineyard Barolos for their transparency to site and ability to improve in bottle for many years.