Giuseppe Cortese Barbaresco 2019

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Surface area: in Barbaresco 1,5 hectares in the “Rabajà” zone, with south, south-westerly exposure.

Altitude: 235/315 meters a.s.l.

Soil: limestone and clay soil rich in minerals and stratified.

Age of vineyard: around 35 years

Density of planting system: guyot-4,000 vines per hectare

Yield per hectare: 70 quintals

Production: approx. 10,000 bottles

Harvest: manual. Vinification: around 30 days of fermentation

Ageing: 18 months in Slavonian oak barrels ranging in size of 17 to 25 hectolitres and in age of 5/6 years minimum. Minimum 6 months of maturing in the bottle before being released for sale.

“It’s impossible not to admire these genuine, sincere wines and their equally unpretentious prices”. Antonio Galloni

About Guiseppe Cortese

Giuseppe went solo in 1971, making his first wine under his own name.

About the 2019 Barbaresco Vintage

From Galloni:

Two-thousand nineteen is an especially fine vintage at Cortese. The wines are deep, layered and super-expressive. Gabriele Occhetti describes 2019 as a late-ripening year, with a harvest that started in mid-October. The 2020s, on the other hand, strike me as a bit less even. There is some edginess in the tannin that is probably the result of less favorable conditions during the growing season. There will be no Riserva in 2020. As always, winemaking here is pretty bare-bones. Fermentations are spontaneous. The wines see fairly long fermentation/maceration, which can reach as much as 30-40 days on the skins for the Riserva. All the Barbarescos are aged in cask; about 18 months for the Barbaresco, 22 for the Rabajà and 48 for the Riserva.

Where in the World is Giuseppe Cortese?

Cortese’s best vineyard is undoubtedly his Rabajà

Contrary to how it may appear when seen from a distance, the Rabajà hill is anything but homogeneous and can be broadly divided into at least two areas. The first bordering on Asili coincides with the picturesque amphitheatre overlooking the Martinenga cru, and mostly enjoys a south-westerly aspect. The second, on the other hand, is more linear and faces due south, though within it there are some evident variations due to marked undulations around the hillside. In both cases, the style of the wine is, however, richer and bolder than the Asili and Martinenga (although a more uncompromising, mineral character tends to emerge in the second area).

Cortese’s Rabajà is mainly facing south-west in the hollow above Martinenga, south for the remainder