2015
75cl
DP
£93.41
vintage
portfolio
2015
75cl
DP
£93.41
Full-bodied, broad flavours but with a softer, creamier note to the tannins than usual. More of an open book than it often can be in its youth, this is replete with silky Victoria plum, tayberry, strawberry, summer pudding and griotte fruit with a sweet clove spice touch. Supple, fluid and long, one of the most expressive Monvigliero’s we can remember tasting. One of the great historic Crus of the area. The steep south-facing slope and, unusually for the area, the chalky sandy soils, give powerful wines of great tannic finesse, spiciness and minerality. There is also the fine perfume you’d expect from the river-influenced Verduno commune, where big day/night temperature differences build aromatics in the wines. For Riservas here the winemaking is the same as the other Crus, though the wine is kept an additional two years in bottle before released. Long slow fermentation in open oak vats for up to 60 days, followed by ageing in large used Slavonian oak casks for 3 years.
The Castello di Verduno is one of the historic castles of Barolo, originally built in 1500, and thanks to the Burlotto family it also seems set for a glittering future. Nebbiolo was first vinified here in 1838 under the new ownership of King Carlo Alberto of Savoy. In 1909 the castle was acquired by the Burlotto family. It was in the 1950s that the Commendatore Giovanni Battista Burlotto, returning from Eritrea, set about restoring the castle to its former glory. Today his daughters run the estate. The Castello’s ten hectares of vineyard spread across Barbaresco and Verduno, the northernmost Barolo commune where the proximity to the river results in warm days but cool nights. Their top wines come from two of the region’s most hallowed vineyards Verduno’s Monvigliero and Barbaresco’s Rabaja. Apart from making fabulous Nebbiolos, the Burlottos are also arch-exponents of the rare Pelaverga variety. This fascinating red grape can only be found in Verduno, where it has been co-planted since the 1600s. It was in danger of dying out, however, until Castello di Verduno took the brave step of being the first to dedicate single vineyard plantings to the variety, in 1972. Success soon followed for the alluring, fruity and peppery reds it produced culminating in 1995 with the award of its very own DOC, Verduno. Interestingly the Burlottos also make a tiny quantity of excellent white made from the same variety, a blanc de noirs, that offers crisp clear fruit and herbal flavours. The wine-making here is traditional; soft, slow fermentations with 25-40 days of maceration on the skins followed by ageing in large old Slavonian oak casks, 24 months for the cru wines and 3 years for the cru riservas. These are refined, spirited, vital Barolos and Barbarescos that have an elegance that makes them very eminently drinkable young, yet with the balance and nerve to allow for long ageing.
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