Vietti Barolo ‘Lazzarito’ 2014

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Grapes: 100% Nebbiolo

Winemaking: The grapes are selected from the single vineyard Lazzarito in Serralunga d’Alba, planted with roughly 4500 units per hectare. The vines have an average age of 35 years. The 2-hectare vineyard has a southwest exposure and a clay-limestone soil. Grapes are gently crushed and fermented for 4 weeks in stainless steel tank with skin contact. This time includes pre- and post- fermentative maceration with the traditional method of submerged cap. Malolactic is done in oak.

Ageing: The wine is aged for approximately 30 months between French oak barriques and Slovenian oak casks

Description: Deep garnet red in color. Richly rounded with a robust and velvety texture; intensely aromatic with hints of figs and plums. Elegant with soft and sweet tannins, followed by a long finish.

About Vietti

Back in 2005, I spent some time at Vietti. Their winery sits in the castle atop Castiglione Falletto. It’s walls broken by slit windows for archers to defend the grounds. The escape tunnel leading from the castle to the plains below had been filled in only a few years prior to my visit. Somehow they’ve managed to modernise aspects of the winery carving into the rock without collapsing the ancient buildings surrounding it.

One of my earlier experience of Vietti was at the Australian Wine Research Institutes Advanced Wine Assessment Course. A blind bracket of 9 Nebbiolo’s was presented, Vietti’s Perbacco from 1998 and Brunate from 1996. The Brunate was superb. My notes from the tasting read “Very complex, great harmony, texture, rich, long, very together, perfumed, incredible layers andvibrancy.” The Perbacco excellent, particularly at 1/8th the price. “Great purity, balance, and poise. Supple with an excellent core of fruit and lovely floral notes.”

In many ways, little has changed. Perbacco, typically declassified Barolo, is the wine to crack while you’re waiting for your Barolo to mature!

Vietti intrigues me. Some of the best Barolo I have devoured have come from their winery. Watching the wines evolve over time, both the same vintage and across vintages has been fascinating. Modern technology at times pierced the tradition. Last year a vertical tasting going back to 1982 was fascinating. It again highlighted my growing consensus that the drinking window for good Barolo, from great years, starts at around 10 years and is right in the zone between 15 and 20 years. The Villero Riserva is in the rare class of Barolo that will push this window out to 30 years+.

Whilst Vietti have always produced more structured wines, they have never shifted to the overt new oak regimes of the likes of Clerico. The wines have always shown harmony and balance.

Where in the World is Vietti?

The Krause Family bought Vietti a couple of years back, leaving, Luca and the Family in full control of production, hence the name below.

The 2014 Vintage

Despite being one of the most complex vintages to manage in the vineyard, the favourable end to 2014 resulted in excellent quality. A mild winter and spring saw and early start to the season. Summer began with average temperatures, however rainfall was above average with some really significant rain events in late July leading to increased risk of fungal attacks. September and October were extremely positive with clear skies and good diurnal temperature shifts. Dolcetto was the most affected in terms of low yields and whilst less structured than 2013 show enticing aromatics and intense colour. Generally speaking the 2014 barberas show greater acid balance, firmer tannic structures and longer cellaring potential. Nebbiolo in 2014 shows great potential, with the best results coming from the most carefully managed vineyards with the sunniest aspects and well-drained soils. Patchy hail storms in Barolo did create some issues, whilst Barbaresco faired beautifully with a third of Barolo’s rainfall and no hail! The nebbiolo-based 2014s are elegant with excellent bouquets packed with minerally notes, and superb acids making them long-lasting. The 2014 vintage confirms how fundamental the end of the season is in affecting the final quality of the grapes and wines.

2014 Baroo: Surprise, Surprise – Vietti (FEB 2018) By Antonio Galloni

This is an absolutely phenominal set of wines from Vietti. The 2014s are every bit as magnificent as they have always been from barrel. The dual flagships Rocche di Castiglione and Ravera are superb, while the entry-level Barolo Castiglione does just as good a job of conveying the personality of the year. Sadly, Brunate sustained 60% hail damage. As a result, Luca Currado opted not to bottle a Barolo Brunate. Yields are down about 25% across the board, so readers who are interested in these Barolos should snap them up before they disappear.