Giovanni Sordo Barolo ‘Monprivato’ 2021

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

An Overview of the 2021’s

Sordo’s 2021 Barolos hold their heads high in both quality & coin!

Having now tasted dozens of 2021 Barolos and Barbarescos they can be summed up as wines of energy and freshness, in general having a smidge less alcohol than usual, fine lines of juicy acid complexed with ripe, sweet and layered tannins. These are classic Nebbiolos with exceptional length and depth of fruit that will in the come years be a demonstration of the entrancing beauty of Nebbiolo.

We’ve seen it in the Langhe Nebbiolos, Barberas and Dolcetto’s from 2021. The Barbarescos and Barolos are living up to their predecessors high standards.

Vintage reports from others

Alessandro Masneghetti’s 2021 Barolo Vintage Report.

In an update to his report late last year Masneghetti wrote:

Late November 2023 update. This is what I wrote three years ago at the time of publishing the first vintage report. Today, after so many tastings carried out in recent months in parallel with the 2019 Barolo tastings, I can definitely say that this will be a very good vintage. More ready and more elegant than the 2019, and perhaps less long-lived (but that is all to be proven). That said, is certainly much closer to my personal tastes.

This is a superb set of wines of great purity, one not to miss!

Sadly there will be no 2021 Villero. In its stead we have for the first time Cru ‘La Serra’ from La Morra.

Looking forward to a series of vertical with the plentiful museum stocks Sordo offer!

Deep Dive into the 8 Cru’s of 2021 Sordo Barolo

Following filming a Deep Dive into the 2015 and 2016 vintage we’re back at with the 2021 vintage!

David Ridge, Neb-Head, responsible for bringing the likes of Bartolo Mascarello, Giacomo Conterno and Bruno Giacosa to Australia shared his incredible depth of knowledge of all things Barolo in a session at Wine Decoded HQ.  David spent an of hours with us tasting through all 8 Cru’s made by Sordo. Yes, that is right, 8 Cru’s from one producer!

There is so much gold in David’s insights, you’re going to need to watch or listen a couple of times … preferably with a glass in hand.

This is an exceptional opportunity to grab a set of wines, break it down into brackets of 2 or 3 and try them along with the film we recorded below! It’s like a masterclass in your own home. Grab some wine loving friends and listen to the Nebbiolo wisdom of Neb-Head David Ridge & Wine Decoded’s very own Paul Kaan who combined have devoured 1,000’s of Nebbiolo’s!

Watch 🎥 our session covering Giovanni Sordo’s 2021 Barolo Classico & 8 x 2021 Cru Barolos wines. Listen 🎧 if the NBN is annoying you!

The 4 brackets

All of the wines were beautifully made, expressive, showing great balance and harmony. The élévage was excellent. Loads of energy through the line-up. It really was a case of celebrating the differences. Some of the wines are drinking beautifully now (and have plenty of legs on them) others were still tightly coiled needing time. All had the right bits in the right places and were full of personality.

TOP TIP – If you want to try them in brackets like we did or over time grab a Coravin and use it to save the wines.

Bracket 1 – The Perfect Intro:  2021 Barolo

The Barolo 80% La Morra. Immediate generosity has it open for action but so much more. A little chocolate and little coffee, savoury bits on dark fruit. There is a lot going on here with layers of flavours and tannins. The depth and length are impressive. Wonderful harmony and presence.

Bracket 2 – The Playful Ones: 2021 Monvigliero, La Serra + Ravera

You could happily drink these with a decant and time in the glass now. They have plenty of time in them too!

Bracket 3 – The Super Stars: 2021 Rocche di Castiglione, Monprivato + Parussi

Wow just wow. Incredibly different and complete wines. I could just spend hours smelling these 3.

Bracket 4 – The Bold Ones: 2021 Perno + Gabutti

Here we find the structure, bold tannins, exceptional tannins, will need time to uncoil and build secondary characters and resolve.

About Giovanni Sordo

Sordo HQ is nestled in the corner of Castiglione Falletto comune on the last stretch of the Alba-Barolo road before it takes that left fork up to Barolo village. You take this track (Frazione Garbelletto) just to the left for Paolo Scavino and Azelia, or right another 100 metres to the entrance of the Sordo family’s quite spectacular and beautiful new cellar.

While the sheer impact and architectural quality of this new facility is eye-catching, it’s the wines that demand even more attention. For sheer consistent excellence of this number of wines made in an essentially traditional and unforced style, it is impossible not to take note of the wines of A A Giovanni Sordo . These wines have been described as ‘transparent’ and they are made by people who want their wines to speak of where they come from.

The Winemaking

One of the really fascinating themes to a Sordo tasting is that all the Baroli are made as identically as is realistic. Vinification is in controlled temperature (to 30o) steel & cuve with submerged caps for up to 50 days. A further 2-4 months in steel, is followed by 24 months in large Slavonian botti. Giorgio Sordo likes the wines to have a further 4-6 months in steel, to “freshen them up” before bottling. Aha, so these are the secrets to transparency?

Where in Barolo are Sordo’s 8 Cru’s?

While they release 8 Cru’s, Sordo own of 17 parcels of Barolo cru

And what places these wines come from! Since the very early 20th century, generations of the Sordo family have been quietly collecting parcels of the finest Nebbiolo-growing dirt in the Langhe. They now have numerous plots of vines in Roero, Barbaresco and particularly Barolo – where they actually own 17 pieces of cru classified vineyard and release an unprecedented 8 labelled (Barolo) cru wines from these, so far.

These are a cavalcade of Barolo’s most famous names – many of them appearing in any list of Barolo’s Top 10 cru; Ravera, Monvigliero, Parussi, Perno and Gabutti and the revered Castiglione Falletto trio of Villero, Rocche di Castiglione and the elusive Monprivato; the one most thought was Giuseppe Mascarello’s monopole, isn’t quite. Sordo started making theirs from 2012. Prior to that, it’s been going into the normale.

Sordo’s Released Cru’s

The map below shows the boundaries of each of the 11 communes of the region of Barolo and the location of each of Sordo’s Cru’s within the communes.

The map below shows details of all of the Cru’s in Barolo say you can see how big or tiny each one is and which vineyards surround the Sordo’s Cru’s. Barolo is roughly 10km wide and 15km long.