Luigi Oddero

An estate going places fast, we believe Luigi Oddero e Figli has the potential to be one of the very great estates of the Langhe. Its story started in 2006 when Luigi split off from the Oddero estate with 30ha. Luigi sadly passed away in 2009 but his wife Lena is now running the azienda alongside children Maria and Giovanni. Dante Scaglione, of Giacosa fame, is consultant winemaker and in 2016 Francesco Versio joined the team as full time head winemaker. Also formerly of Bruno Giacosa Francesco is considered one of the brightest young winemaking talents of the region. Methods are traditional here, long gentle extractions followed by ageing in large old oak casks for up to three years. Blessed with some truly great vineyards and some of the best winemaking talent around, the Luigi Oddero future looks bright indeed. Vivid, elegant wines with great intensity and purity of flavour.

2015 Vintage

Winemaker Francesco Versio was so surprised by the 2015 vintage. It was a ripe year but there was a lot more freshness in the wines than he was expecting, which he puts down to minerality. Francesco and the team felt harvesting relatively early was important, above all to keep the fruit precise and fresh. Harvest took place between the 22nd to 25th September. He also felt shorter macerations were crucial to get the most out of this vintage (15 to 20 days as opposed to 25 + usually.) With great vineyards at their disposal winemaker Francesco, with the help of a team including Dante Scaglione as consultant, is taking Luigi Oddero to the very

2016 Vintage

“One of the best vintages of the past 15-20 years” according to wine-maker Francesco Versio “The perfect season: A cool Spring but without rain, only five rains between March and May. Then two showers in June followed by a dry July with consistent, but moderate warm temperatures right the way through August. In September days registered 23-24C and nights were cool. We waited as we had the perfect conditions for Nebbiolo. We started October 10th and finished between the 25-27th. Yields were good but balanced. We have fruit, tannins, complexity - everything - in 2016!” The wines back this up. The under the radar greatness of the Rocche Rivera is testament to the skill of Franceso Versio and the Luigi Oddero team as much as it is the vintage. This estate has been rapidly on the move upwards the last few years. The 2014 Vigna Rionda provides even more compelling evidence, a vintage not helped by the poor summer season! However the quality of vineyard work, fruit selection and the long hang-time of a late vintage has resulted in a supremely refined, vivid and complete Barolo.

2017 Vintage

2017 represents a major turning point at Luigi Oddero, being Francesco Versio’s first full vintage in charge of production. Even with his great pedigree as winemaker, following successful stints at Bruno Giacosa and Terre del Barolo, we were surprised at the instant impact he has had on quality. A new de-stemmer and sorting tables, new large stockinger oak botti and improving temperature and humidity control were his first and most important tasks. The benefits are clearly seen in the 2017 and 2018 vintages. Warm vintages that yields wines of the most impeccable jewel-like fruit. 2017 was not a vintage Francesco expected, noting: “Although dry, there was not a drop of rain until November, there was at least a cooler September which helped the grapes ripen and achieve more tannic ripeness, albeit with higher alcohols.” Despite the style of the vintage, definition and terroir characteristics shine thrillingly through the Rocche Rivera. 2018 is another warm, ripe vintage but juicier in style – the stunning aromatic focus and purity of the Rombone a sign of more great things to come at Figli Luigi.

2018 Vintage

2018 is Francesco Versio's second full vintage in charge of production and what an impact he is having; attentive, sustainable viticulture and precise but unobtrusive traditional winemaking are the order of the day. This will prove to a big turning point in this estate's history. Figli Luigi Oddero have two of the greatest vineyards in the Langhe, in Rocche Rivera and Vigna Rionda, and they are now exploiting these to the full. This is swiftly becoming a reference point estate in Piedmont. In Francesco words "2018s are so expressive, so delicate, so fine" adding "it was a fresh vintage, with lots of early rain but the quality of tannins was good thanks to sunshine, wind and cool temperatures in September and October." Indeed, we found them to be so meltingly fine and ethereally beautiful. It was not easy getting there, which makes the achievement all the more impressive: a huge selection in the summer and during harvest meant they only produced 1200 bottles of the crus (a quarter of what they would ordinarily make.) Extractions were super gentle, whilst ageing in large oak botti was reduced by one year to 24 months. Bravissimo!

2019 Vintage

It was a fleeting but happy encounter with winemaker Francesco Versio in Santa Maria di La Morra this year. A proud new Dad to a two-week old at home, he had plenty to be getting on with, so we tasted with Lena Oddero, owner of the estate, and Alberto Zaccarelli, export manager. Currently experiencing something of their own metaphorical birth, Figli Luigi Oddero is investing heavily in the future and is fortunate to own an array of choice vineyards across Santa Maria di La Morra, Castiglione Falletto and Serralunga d’Alba, plus Treiso in Barbaresco. In Francesco Versio, formerly of Bruno Giacosa, they have one of the region’s most exciting winemaking talents – someone whose affable nature and charm is gradually making its way into the wines themselves. A lot of time has been invested in learning to tame the innate power that many of their best vineyards provide, balancing that with finer, more resolved tannins and pure fruited, engaging aromatic profiles. To achieve this, they ferment in stainless steel and concrete with relatively short macerations of 15–20 days, up to 30 days for Vigna Rionda. The wines are then racked to large casks of various sizes where the malolactic and ageing takes place over three years. These elements they believe have helped to bring a sense of proportion and measure to their wine, without losing the visceral thrill that is intrinsic to all great Barolo and Barbaresco. This is an estate on the up and one to be getting in with now.

2020 Vintage

Lena Oddero was succinct. “2019 is depth, 2020 is finesse, 2021 is both.” She is right of course, and her new releases, stewarded from bud to bottle by the exceptional ex-Giacosa winemaker Francesco Versio, express the sentiment better than any of us can. Figli Luigi Oddero is now entering something of a purple patch, as the fruits of Francesco’s early labour (he joined the estate in 2017) are coming to fruition. Significantly, this year sees the long-anticipated release of Vigna Rionda Riserva 2016 – a parading, baritone Barolo of sculpt and sinew, just as you’d hope it to be. At 32ha the estate is relatively large by Langhe standards, endowed with a patchwork of top vineyard sites, incorporating La Morra, Castiglione Falletto and Serralunga d’Alba. These are complimented by the particularly good Rombone Barbaresco, a well-exposed, river-influenced site in Treiso. Fermentations are carried out in stainless steel save for three wooden tine which are reserved for the single vineyard Barolos. Ageing takes place in large oak casks, two Stockingers, the rest French, for two years for all Barolo and Barbaresco bar Vigna Rionda, which sees three years in wood.