March 2024 Wine Club
WINES
Wine Club Selections, March 2024
• Produttori del Barbaresco, Barbaresco 2019
• E. Pira e Figli (Chiara Boschis), Barolo ‘Mosconi’ 2019
Produttori del Barbaresco, Barbaresco 2019
100% Nebbiolo / Piemonte, Italy
Founded in 1958, the Produttori del Barbaresco represents perhaps the best cooperative of winegrowers in the world. Today, the 'produttori' consists of 51 grower/members who farm 100 hecatres of the finest vineyard sites in Barbaresco. Each vintage, the nebbiolo grapes from these vineyards are brought to the winery located in the heart of the commune of Barbaresco, where they undergo a traditional vinification. This 'blended' Barbaresco is the flagship of the cooperative, and is produced in each vintage. It represents a benchmark for the region as a whole, and routinely scores 95+ points in critic tastings. One of the reasons for this exceptional quality and consistency is that the growers of the Produttori hold grapes in many of the top crus, which are both made into single-vineyard bottlings in smaller qualities, and are used in the classic Barbaresco. This represents one of my favorite go-to wines in any vintage. In a great vintage like 2019, it is the kind of wine to buy in bulk, as it has tremendous aging potential, while delivering fantastic drinkability in its youth.
The wine undergoes a fairly long maceration of 24 days in stainless steel tanks. It is then aged in large oak casks. Lovely right now, the wine has the potential to age and improve over the next 20 years. Nebbiolo is a powerful, tannic, and high-acid grape that often demands food. While the wines of Barbaresco are often fresher and a bit lighter and a touch easier to drink alone than there counterparts in Barolo, they still really are enhanced by the right pairings. This is a versatile wine that can go well with classic pastas, and both white meat and red meat dishes. However, for the best experiences, try and pair it with classics of the region: gnocchi or agnolotti with a sauce that is either based on braised pork or veal or brown butter; mushrooms/truffles; braised pork dishes; grilled pork chops or grass-fed steak; aromatic soft cheeses.
Drink: now-2045
E. Pira e Figli (Chiara Boschis), Barolo 'Mosconi' 2019
100% Nebbiolo / Piemonte, Italy
Chiara Boschis is the 'force of nature' owner and winemaker at E. Pira e Figli, located directly in the center of the commune of Barolo. She has become one of my favorite winemakers in the world, and every time I visit with her, I am further enchanted by the wines. Chiara comes from a family with deep roots in Barolo and ties to some of the region's most historic estates. As a young woman in the early 1980s, she convinced her parents to help her get a loan to buy the E. Pira e Figli estate as the owners had no offspring to pass it on to upon their retirement. Chiara quickly became a star. This was a time of massive upheaval in Barolo. A new movement towards modern winemaking styles was making waves, and the group of young winemakers pushing these trends where called 'The Barolo Boys'. Chiara was the one woman in the group of rebels, who were looking at changing the production and marketing of the wines in the region. The so-called 'Barolo Wars' pitted this young group against traditional stalwarts.
Historically, Barolo was a wine so tannic, so acidic, so powerful, that it need 10, 15, even 20 years of bottle age before it could really be enjoyed. The traditional viticultural and vinicultural processes included no pruning in the vineyard, incredibly long and slow macerations, and long aging in giant Slavonian oak botti. The young modernists wanted to try and create Barolo that not only would drink well in its youth, but also would age, and would perhaps even be appreciated by the growing wine markets in the United States that craved 'hedonistic' wines with ripe fruit and higher alcohol. 'The Barolo Boys' began green harvesting (cutting bunches off the vine mid-summer to concentrate flavor into the remaining grapes), and perhaps most controversial of all, started aging some or even entire portions of their wine in 250-liter French oak barriques as in Bordeaux. In the beginning, this battle produced wines that were in stark contrast. Over time, as is often the case, both sides began to see the benefits in both methodologies. While there are a handful of producers in each camp that remain 'hardcore' in their styles and principles, the majority of producers have come to a middle-ground. Nearly all winemakers in Barolo now green-harvest as it controls yields and producers higher-quality grapes. Most of the modernists now use a portion of older or larger barrels, while many of the traditionalists are working cleaner to produce wines with freshness and a drinkability in their youth.
The wines of Chiara Boschis, are simultaneously meditative, structured, and powerful like the traditional wines of Barolo, while still demonstrating an almost 'hedonistic' sense of pleasure. Her skill in the cellar is immense, but perhaps the most important characteristic in her wines is the quality of her farming and the incredible terroir that she works in. Chiara was the first producer to certify organic in the Barolo region. She farms seven of the most important single vineyard crus in the region, including Mosconi and Ravera di Monforte in Monforte d'Alabe, Cannubi, Terlo, and Liste in Barolo, and Gabutti and Baudana in Serralunga d'Alba. From these vineyards, she produces four Nebbiolo-based wines: • Langhe Nebbiolo (from the Ravera di Monforte cru)
• Barolo 'Via Nuova' (a traditional blend of 5 crus)
• Barolo 'Cannubi' (single vineyard bottling)
• Barolo 'Mosconi' (single vineyard bottling)
The 'Mosconi' cru presented here represents, perhaps, my favorite cru in all of Barolo, and is home not only to this wine, but to the illustrious Barolo 'Percristina' of Domenico Clerico which is one of my favorite wines in the world. 'Mosconi' is a small vineyard in the commune of Monforte d'Alba at the souhtern edge of the Barolo zone. This area produces some of the most structured and powerful wines in all of Barolo, due to a combination of the heavy clay soil which is also rich in calcium carbonate and iron. The wine is powerful and structured with a redish-brown color, generous floral aromas wrapped in dried fruits and spices, with a long, persistent finish, fantastic acid, and chewy tannins.
Is it ready to drink now? Probably not. If you have patience, you will certainly be rewarded. Try and hold off until at least 2026 to really get into this wine. That said, the aging potential here is immense and if stored properly it will easily hold to 2050. When you open it, open it with food and share it with loved ones and good friends. This is a wine for big flavors: ribeye, bison steaks, aged cheeses, or classic Brasato al Barolo (braised veal/beef in barolo wine sauce).
Drink: 2026-2050+
