Elio Altare

Elio has done Piedmont wines a great service over the last two decades. Not only has the outstanding quality of his delightful ‘La Morra’ Barolo wines raised Piedmont’s profile, but he has taken many younger growers, such as Marco Marengo, under his wing giving them advice and instilling confidence in them to make and bottle their own wines. Elio’s production of modern style Burgundy-influenced Barolos is, alas, miniature, meaning many of the Cru Barolos sell out before they even reach our list. Always experimenting and looking to perfect his art, Elio makes some stunning wine outside of his strong Barolo portfolio, including the old vines single vineyard Larigi Barbera and the Barbera Nebbiolo blend, La Villa. As Elio steps ever closer to full retirement, his talented daughter Silvia has taken greater control of wine production, carrying on the estate's concept of producing "modern classics." One of Silvia's recent initiatives was to produce the uno per uno cuvée, a staggeringly labour intense wine produced by cutting berries (selecting from the estate's best plots) off of their stalks for whole berry fermentation. The result is one of the modern day greats of Barolo. Their flagship wine, the Barolo blend, undergoes a short fermentation of up to a week, followed by ageing in used oak barriques for 2 years, the same method applies to the Cru Barolos apart from the fact that there is some new oak - anything up to 30%. The langhe wines are all aged for a shorter time, 12-6 months, in 100% new oak. Despite these modern methods oak or alcohol are not at all the feature of these wines you'd expect. Rather they are packed with vivid character, offer silky textures and are some of the most intense wines Piedmont has to offer. Viticulture is organic and sulphur usuage is incredibly low. These are some of the most honest, pure and environmentally friendly wines in the region.