Giovanni Sordo Barolo ‘Rocche di Castiglione’ 2017

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

The 2017’s

I had very positive feelings for Sordo’s 8 Cru’s after an early look coming on a year ago (Oct 2021). Tasting them again in July 2022 I felt a little lost. Tasting them again recently I was back to my original thoughts. WTF happened? Looking back at my notes I realised I tasted them 2 days into the peak of my battle with the Spicy Cough. I had thought my palate was OK. Turns out it was stuffed!

There is undoubtedly an overlay of the vintage as there should be.  Having tried multiple vintages of the wines back to 2001 the common threads of wines expressing fruit and grape tannins without interference from wood are clear.

The 2015’s were expressive straight out of the gate with consistency across the range. They’re wonderful drinking now and will continue to be so for some time.

The 2016’s have an incredible core of fruit and stunning tannin profiles. Most were quite brooding on release needing time in bottle and glass to coax out their superb personalities. These will be fascinating to devour over time.

The 2017’s show freshness, elegance with perfume of fruit, a clear demonstration Sordo have come to grips with handling warmer years. The individual Cru wines are showing their home site and express their Commune. It’s perhaps the tannins that differentiate the most from the previous 2 years. There’s plenty of them and they are edgy in a positive way. As you move to the more structured Cru of Parussi, Perno (in particular) and Gabutti they will need more time to settle. It is clear from my 1st to most recent tasting that the process is underway.

Looking forward to a mini-vertical of 2015, 2016 & 2017 in 5-10 years!

As of Oct 2022:

Ravera is showing its brilliant red fruits, expressive and divine wine. Flowing and radiant. That typical heart shape of fruit. Layered hardwood herbs with medicinal pops with a lick of tar. Earthy, harmony here is very good on nose and palate. This has plenty more to offer in coming years as it builds. Beautifully weighted. Came together nicely with an extra day. Energy remains. Lengthened quite a bit.

Monvigliero has a dark edge with slate and spice building.  Long linear tannins of playful grip. Fascinating seeing the shape difference to Ravera’s line and length, still with mid-palate roundness here vs the heart shape of Ravera. Spices, anise and licorice with a little orange, loads of tobacco and that slight tarry note. With an extra day the Movigliero resolved and harmonised. Softened a little. Quite a deal of sophistication here. Excellent maceration, skins notes. Slate. Loads of intrigue, playful. Perfume really coming through.

Villero is the one that entrances with its perfume, layering, sophistication and currently the best tannins in the lineup. This has resolved a little over the last 12 months, building generosity and is starting to reveal itself. Still plenty of tension. Deceptive depth and length. A caressing flow. My favourite wine of the 2016 Sordo Cru’s and it’s done it again in 2017! A complete wine.

Monprivato those faded flowers! Filling all corners of the palate. Wonderful depth length and shape. Showing the 2017 edginess of tannin with more depth than the preceeding wines. Perfumed, savoury on red fruit and blood orange. Earthy, truffled, fine. Evolving in the glass and drawing you in. A lot to love with this, brooding, layered, waiting to pounce. Along with the Villero the greatest sophistication of tannins in the lineup thus far. Give this time and it will offer plenty more. Quite long and with nicely balanced acid. Built beautifully over an extra day the resolution of tannins excellent. Persistent. Quite a lot happening here. More to come.

Rocche showing the site with faded flowers, a build in tannins here over the Villero adds a significant structural element, the long even shape is present as in past years. Youthful tension and tannins will need time to relax. Wonderful nose of intensity with great depth, rich, brooding, it’s starting to offer quite a lot. Serious with delicacy.  Excellent line, length and balance. Red fruits, chocolate, faded flowers, savoury licks, great drive and persistence.

Parussi Quite juicy red fruit. I’ve always thought this more structured than the central Castiglione Falletto wines. I believe it may sit on the same soil type as Serralunga. The geological divide runs through the middle of the Cru. After Ravera the most generous fruit at the moment. Strong showing from Parussi this year. More playful. There is a prettiness to the nose. A fragrance that is immediately enchanting. Mid-palate density is deceptive, looking elegant yet layering up quickly.

Perno, as Monforte often is in it’s youth, is brooding, structured. If you’ve ever had the chance to follow a decent Barolo from Monforte over a decade or more you’ll see wine from much of this Commune go through a metamorphosis. Unfurling, building generosity and length, the mouth-puckering tannin softening. I expect this will be the case here too. Let it resolve over 5+ years and this will offer much more. A strong showing from Perno too. Darker on the nose, it has a presence about it that can not be denied. The core of fruit is profound and beautifully weighted to match the serious tannins.

Gabutti Needs much more time to unfurl. Black tea, slate, a darkness. Maintaining the freshness present across the 8 Cru’s. As with Perno, the 2017 Gabutti is exaggerating the tannic nature of the Cru in its youth. Where the opulent fruit and ripe layered tannin of 2016 made it easy to comprehend, 2017, in its youth has a certain toughness at the moment. A little sappy, bloody, savoury and slatey. I suspect if we were tasting this at the same phase in its life from 20 vintages prior we’d be fully at ease with its current state of evolution.

Deep Dive into the 8 Cru’s of Sordo

This commentary and films explores the 8 Cru’s for the 2016 vintage. Still relevant to this release it shares great insights. 

Watch 🎥full length 4 part series covering the 2016 wines & get the full experience with flyover maps of the communes and more. Listen 🎧 if the NBN is annoying you!

Scroll down 👇🏼

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 a couple 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.

Prior to trying the wines, I asked myself, will this result in confusion and seeing a jack of all trades and master of none. After smelling the Langhe Neb, Barbaresco and Barolo Normale I  realised the reality, was going to be the complete opposite. All of the wines were superb individual and delicious! Given the geographic and varietal spread we work with in Australia, it was a silly thought really. Here’s a family working with one variety over an area that is 10km wide and 15km long (excluding the Roero and Barbaresco fruit). Compared to some of my past winemaking experience working across multiple regions hundreds of km’s apart, spanning a dozen varietals, they have some serious focus!

We recorded the session, and, now, share it with the Wine Decoded community. We introduce you to Nebbiolo, take you through the geology of Barolo and its impact on the wines, 5 of the 11 Communes that make up the Barolo region, and, 8 special Cru’s including some of the rarest and most sought after in the world!

Get in touch with us before you next head to Barolo and we’ll get you connected to the Sorodo Crew!

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 🎥full length 4 part series covering the 2016 wines & get the full experience with flyover maps of the communes and more. 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:  2016 Barbaresco, 2016 Barolo

The Barbaresco a blend from Treiso, Barbaresco and Nieve. Has developed beautifully over the last year. The perfume, the energy, such fine bones, delicacy, delicious juicy fruit. Just keeps getting better. Nice little bit of licoricious on red cherries with excellent vibrant acidity. Lovely Barbaresco.

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: 2016 Ravera + Monvigliero

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

Bracket 3 – The Super Stars: 2016 Villero + Monprivato + Rocche di Castiglione + Parussi

Wow just wow. Incredibly different and complete wines. I could just spend hours smelling these 4.

Bracket 4 – The Bold Ones: 2016 Perno + Gabutti

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

About Giovanni Sordi

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?

The 2017 Vintage

2017 will be remembered as hot with low rainfall. Winter was mild, while spring brought some rain and above-average temperatures. May saw the beginning of a long period of fine weather with summer maximums above average, though cooler nights than in other hot years.

End of August and early September, some welcome rain arrived, followed by a sharp drop in temperatures and marked diurnal temperature shifts. The later ripening nebbiolo and barbera benefitted most. While the overall growing season was shorter, it still lasted on average 185 days compared with 170 in other ‘hot’ years, and 200 in classic vintages.

The accumulation of anthocyanins and tannins was excellent, and while alcohols are higher, they are not out of the average, especially for nebbiolo. Ph levels were good and acids lower. Yields were below average of compact bunches, with harvest occurring around 2 weeks early.

2017 yielded wines of great promise – the cool nights and return to ‘average’ conditions in September being major contributing factors. In fact the 2017 Barolos show remarkable freshness and elegance, with the top producers building on their experience of warmer years, which began with the torrid 2003.

Galloni does an excellent job exploring the 2017 growing season and vintage in his article “2017 Barolo: Here We Go Again…” It’s clear the growers and makers of Piedmont have got their heads around warmer vintages and how to get the most in both the vineyard, and, the winery.

“There is plenty to like about the 2017 Barolos… In tasting, the 2017s are mid-weight Barolos with the classic structure of Nebbiolo. They are often intensely aromatic. Acids and tannins are prominent in many wines. The fruit profiles are ripe, often distinctly redtoned, but not cooked or over-ripe. Perhaps most importantly, the 2017 Barolos are very true to site, which is always a concern with vintages marked by warm weather. The best 2017s are exceptionally polished, vivid and flat-out delicious”

Galloni

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 a very rough divide of soil types across Barolo. The MGA soil map shows these in great detail. It’s only a rule of thumb but a reasonably good one.

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.