Size & Type
Other
Grapes: 100% Nebbiolo
Winemaking: The grapes are selected from the single vineyard Ravera in Novello, planted with roughly 4500 units per hectare. The vines have an average age of 25 years with the oldest part planted in 1935. The roughly 3-hectare vineyard has a south-west 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 casks that will continue until late spring. The wine spends over a year on fine lees without racking it.
Ageing: The wine is aged for about 30 months in Slovenian oak casks.
Description: Intense garnet red colour. Very classic and traditional with a robust structure and intense tannins. Bouquet takes a little time to show itself with slight hints of yeast. It opens slowly in the glass touch of spice and menthol. In the final, the powerful structure and concentration soften the tannins potential.
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.
The Krause Family bought Vietti a couple of years back, leaving, Luca and the Family in full control of production, hence the name below.
2015 began with high levels of snow providing good water reserves. Combined with mild spring temperatures and various rain falls, bud break and flowering were early, followed by an excellent fruit set. From the second half of June throughout July, there was no rain and temperatures stabilized to above-average maximums. Fortunately the vineyards were not stressed thanks to the plentiful water reserves. In terms of quantity, production was average allowing for careful, targeted green harvesting with special care taken to ensure foliage was managed to provide good protection for the clusters. There was no disease pressure so preventative measures were not required. The white varieties were harvested between the end of August and mid-September and the excellent sugars were matched by wonderful acidity. The Dolcetto harvest began around the second week in September and the wines were aromatic, softer and deeply coloured. Barbera is the variety which perhaps most benefited from the 2015 season with the usually high acidity tempered by excellent ripe tannins, dense colours and richly flavoured fruit and body. Nebbiolo ripened perfectly, though slightly earlier than the last few years. The excellent quality of the tannins balanced by perfect acidity will certainly ensure elegant, long-lasting wines with good structure.
Vietti’s 2015 Barolos are good examples of the strengths and weaknesses of the vintage as a whole. All of the wines are fresh and medium in body, with good energy and plenty of drive. At the same time, the differences between the vineyard are not quite as marked as they are in truly outstanding years. Even so, the 2015s here are brilliant. I won’t be surprised if they show even better with a few more years in bottle, as they are among the most reticent 2015s I tasted.
Galloni
The 2015 Barolo Ravera is once again the head of the class at Vietti. Bright, sculpted and wonderfully nuanced, the Ravera is very pretty. Floral aromatics and the pointed, brilliant fruit that is such a Ravera signature are very much in evidence. Hints of blood orange, mint, crushed rocks and flowers add shades of complexity as the 2015 gradually opens up in the glass. This is one of the finer wines of the year. Don't miss it!
The beautifully fragrant roses are impossible to resist. This oozes charm. Also, there are red cherries, cocoa powder and an array of wild herbs in the mix. The palate has toned yet muscular tannins that build nicely to deliver a concentrated core of ripe red-cherry flavor that holds long, fresh and youthful. Great Barolo. Try from 2022.
Where in the world does the magic happen?
Vietti, Piazza Vittorio Veneto, Castiglione Falletto, Province of Cuneo, Italy
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