Sottimano Barbaresco ‘Basarin’ 2016

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

The Barbaresco Basarin is produced from the cru of Basarin, in the area of Neive. It is an historical and very prestigious vineyard; its position, on the border between the zone of Neive and Treiso, together with high altitude gives the wines a particular note of spices with a hint of licorice, as well as great complexity and a considerable structure. Vine age here ranges from 25-60 years.

The fermentation and the maceration on the skins are traditionally long and only with The fermentation and the maceration on the skins are traditionally long and only with natural yeasts. The malolactic fermentation and the ageing of the wine happens in French barrels where the wine stays on its lees for the entire period of the aging. 10% of the barrels are new, the remaining 90% have previously been used up to 4 times. There is no filtering and no fining prior to bottling.

About Sottimano

“I can’t say enough good things about the Sottimano family and the work they have done over the years to firmly establish themselves among Barbaresco’s top growers.”

Antonio Galloni

Az. Agr. Sottimano was founded in 1975 by Maggiore Sottimano. The cellar and a small holding in the Cotta vineyard were purchased first, then over the next 30 years Maggiore expanded the estate’s Nebbiolo holdings in some of Barbaresco’s most revered vineyards – Cotta, Pajore, Fausoni, Curra and in 2001 Basarin. Today, Maggiore’s son Andrea is the winemaker and uses his father’s 30+ years of experience to make decisions in the vineyard.

In the Vineyard

Sottimano farms 14 ha of the finest organic Vineyards in the Village of Neive in the Barbaresco area.

The vineyards are farmed organically with cover crops promoting bio-diversity. By doing less, Andrea is taking risks, but moving foward and exploring new ground in terms of transparent, natural wines. These are among the most terroir-driven wines in the Langhe and the future is extremely bright at this estate

“I always believe that every great wine is the result of a serious, conscientious and passionate work in the vineyards. That’s the reason why, since from the first day, I always tried to avoid any chemical products and herbicides , to preserve the natural balance of our soils”.

Rino

In the Winery

Andrea has a light hand in the cellar and may be Barbareco’s most forward-thinking producer. Macerations for Nebbiolo are around 18-40 days, malolactic fermentation occurs naturally without warming the cellars, in barrique, on the lees for up to 12 months with no sulfur. Fermentation happens with natural, ambient yeasts and the wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered.

The 2016 Vintage at Sottimano

From Produttori:

The 2016 vintage was certainly one of the longest-lasting season of recent years. Signs of the vegetative cycle being so long first appeared at the beginning of the season, when the mild temperatures and low rainfall in January and early February confirmed the trend that had already been seen during the first part of the winter.

From the end of February throughout March, on the other hand, temperatures dropped and there was plenty of rain, providing the soil with good reserves of water, although less than what was recorded the previous year.
Spring began with a considerable amount of rain as well as cold night temperatures which actually helped avoiding any significant disease related problem also because of the still primordial stage reached in the vegetative cycle.

Only after June 20th temperatures become more normal and summer settled in with maximum day temperatures above 85°F. The good weather stayed through the summer, but never too hot and grapes showed a slowly delay in the ripening process that was overcome only in September especially thanks to the beautiful second half of the month. Bright days and chilly nights helped a perfect evolution of the structure of the wines and the accumulation of phenolic substances.
Harvest happened in the first two weeks of October under beautiful weather. We can look forward to wines with excellence balance, big bouquets and great structure, although in some cases lower alcohol contents will be recorded than in 2015. 2016 will be a vintage of great personality and definitely in for the long run in your cellars!

My visit to Sottimano was a real highlight of the time I spent in Barbaresco this past summer. I have been buying these wines for my own cellar since the mid 1990s. The transformation here since then has been nothing short of remarkable. Rino and Andrea Sottimano gave their 2016s 30 days on the skins and then aged the wines in a cold cellar with the goal of drawing out the malolactic fermentations as long as possible, the approach they have taken for a number of years. The long harvest of 2016 yielded exquisitely perfumed, silky wines that are utterly captivating. Tasted next to the 2016, the 2015s have slightly coarser tannins and less overall polish, although that is in relative terms given the absolute quality of the wines across the board.

Antonio Galloni

Where in the World is Sottimano?

Sottimano is based in the Commune of Neive, Barbaresco, Piedmont.