Vietti Barolo ‘Monvigliero’ 2018

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Grape Variety: Nebbiolo (100%)

Vineyard: The Monvigliero vineyard has not only the reputation for being the most important Cru in the village of Verduno, but also to be among the most prestigious ones in the whole Barolo region. The Monvigliero hill is exposed towards south–southeast; the parcel where Vietti grows the grapes for this wines is at about 320 meters a.s.l.. The soil is calcareous and clayey with Sant’Agata’s marls. The grapevines have an average age of about 50 years and are planted, using the Guyot trellis system, at a density of 4,500 plants per hectare. 2018 is the first vintage of the Cru Monvigliero produced by Vietti.

Winemaking: Hand-picked on October 3rd, 2018, the grapes have been only partly destemmed (40%) and gently crushed before bringing them into stainless steel tanks for the maceration and alcoholic fermentation. 60% of the grapes were added to be vinified as “whole-cluster” with their stems. After five days of cold maceration, the alcoholic fermentation had started with increasing the temperature. The total time of contact with the skins was about four weeks, which included the pre- and post-fermentation maceration using the traditional submerged cap method. Malolactic fermentation took place in oak.

Ageing: The wine has been aged for 24 months in large oak casks. It was bottled without filtration.

Description: Ruby red colour. Very delicate though intense aroma. Very elegant on the palate with hints of strawberry, cherry and rose. The tannins are persistent, round and silky, perfectly in harmony with the fruit structure of the wine. Long lingering aftertaste with fresh spicy notes.

For the First Time 3 New Wines

The Barbaresco Masseria (a trade name not a vineyard name) has been made many times. This is the first time it has been made with fruit from the fabled Roncaglie Cru. The Monvigliero was made with the help of Jeremy Seysses of Dujac, whole bunch expert, a technique often used in Verduno. The Cerquio is from a parcel acquired from Michele Chiarlo.

The Prologue

Luca & Elena have always stayed true to their convictions, and, history, acknowledging the wisdom of their family, and elder peers. While their Cru Barolos have brought them international fame, they have worked to protect patches of history for both their family and the region. Listen to Luca share his stories of retaining the Scarrone vineyard planted to Barbera when his father had planned to replant it to Nebbiolo, saving Arneis from being reconciled to a note in a wine book, and, more recently going back to Barbaresco, acquiring a parcel or Rabajà, and this becomes clear.

The drive for constant improvement continues with a parcel of Monvigliero now in the stables, whole bunch techniques are being applied with the help of Jeremy Seysses from Dujac. Meanwhile, Vietti started making Timorasso in 2018. Grapes for this white coming from vineyards located in Monleale in the Alessandria Province.

The 2018 Barolos are absolutely beautiful. There is not much more to say than that. Over the years, Luca Currado and Elena Penna have dialed in a style that works well for these vineyards. The Vietti Barolos are marked by intense fruit that is partly the result of bleeding the musts. The Barolos are done entirely in cask these days, which is a great complement to all of that intensity. Time on the skins ranged from three weeks or so for the Brunate and Lazzarito to as much as five weeks for the Ravera and Rocche. All of the wines were done with submerged cap maceration. “These were some of our longest macerations of the last three years,” Luca Currado explained.

Readers will note the addition of two new wines that have been thrilling since the first day I tasted them. The first is from a choice parcel in Cerequio Vietti acquired from Michele Chiarlo. The new Monvigliero is made in conjunction with Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac and has some whole cluster influence. As much as I hope stems don’t become a trend in Piedmont like French oak barrels did in the 1990s, there is little question whole clusters seem to work especially well in Monvigliero. These wines are simply brilliant. There is not much more to say than that.

Galloni

A Little 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 and vibrancy.” 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.

Whilst Vietti have always produced more structured wines, the wines have always shown harmony and balance. The difficult 2011 year was perhaps a sign of a maturity and wisdom in the winemaking. They guided the fruit to a state of great harmony and balance in that year, pulling back on the structural elements to produce wines that were drinking superbly in late 2016.

In the last couple of years, I have devoured many more Vietti wines including a 1996 Villero Riserva and 1997 Rocche di Castiglione. Both would be in the top dozen Barolos I’ve every been lucky enough to devour!

Luca and Elenor’s wisdom has continued to build in the following years. Year after year the wines are getting better and better.

A couple of podcasts with the Vietti Crew

If you have some Italian there’s are a bit of fun too!

The 2018 Vintage

A long, wet winter, replenishing water reserves following the drought of 2017. Bud burst was normal but cool, wet conditions prevailed well into spring. Late May and early June saw storms and high rainfall, but fortunately flowering and fruit set followed under ideal conditions. Development over summer was even, with temperatures rising considerably from mid-July.

A long period of fine conditions helped the grapes to ripen gradually, with September once again blessed with warm sunny days and cool nights. Nebbiolo yields were low and benefitted from the ideal conditions, with harvest from early October. In Barolo and Barbaresco, 2018 produced beautifully balanced Nebbiolo wines with excellent acidity and ageing potential.

Vintage reports from others to explore

The Consorzio di Tutela Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe e Dogliani 2018 Vintage Report.

Alessandro Masneghetti’s 2018 Barolo Vintage Report.

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 winery based in Castiglione Falletto now has additional vineyard sources in Barolo with Monvigliero in Verduno in the very North of the Barolo region, Rabajà & Roncaglie in the Barbaresco, and, Timorasso plantings in the Colli Tortonesi, the most eastern part of Piedmont. In addition, they have plantings in the Roero and Asti (the Barbera d’Asti Tre Vigne is a cracker).

This 3D flyover is Epic covering each of the communes you can see just how varied and extreme the aspect of each vineyard is and how in the space of a few metres just how dramatically the change.