Sottimano Barbaresco ‘Pajorè’ 2021

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

This vineyard in the municipality of Treiso, with its light and compact soil, gives the wine a linearity and elegance of structure that has always been its main feature. The cru enjoys a higher altitude and exposure to winds, which help create an elegant and mineral Barbaresco with a typical spicy note, making it recognisable over time. Vine age here is 50-60+ years.

Meticulous selection of the best grapes in the vineyards and in the cellar is followed by spontaneous alcoholic fermentation using indigenous yeasts. After long maceration on skins (traditionally two months with submerged cap), the wine is racked into French barriques and large barrels where it completes malolactic fermentation. Neither filtration nor fining takes place at the time of bottling. A further year’s rest in the bottle allows the wine to fulfil its full expressive potential.

Although the film below explores the 2016 Barbaresco Basarin it remains informative of the estate’s philosophy.

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 2021 Vintage at Sottimano

My recent visit with Andrea Sottimano was one of the most interesting of my trip to Barbaresco in September 2024. The 2023s, which I tasted from cask, are gorgeous, promising, young Barbarescos. Sottimano gave his 2023s 40-45 days on the skins, as he felt the quality of the grapes and skins was very high. The 2022 vintage here is much more complicated. Sottimano did not bottle any Barbaresco, not even a blended appellation wine. “The wines were just too far off the level of the 2021s and 2023s and not really what we strive to make here,” Sottimano told me matter-of-factly. As for the 2021s, they are every bit as magnificent as they were last year. Cold nights in September and into October provided ideal conditions for richly expressive, structured wines. The 2021s saw extended time on the skins and were aged in cask, with no racking until bottling. These are some of the most impressive wines I have tasted in 25 years of visiting the estate.

Antonio Galloni, Vinous

Where in the World is Sottimano?

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