Piedmont 2019 - Power in Proportion (View Our Full Piedmont En Primeur Offer Online)

Three estates you should really know about

As Piedmont’s star continues to rise and allocations are wrestled out of the most celebrated cellars, there is a tide of quality, family estates quietly going about their business with all the same diligence and care for their wines. Here, the site-specificity and drinkability remain the pillars of their output far ahead of scores or lofty market prices. We believe that the three producers we highlight today are performing at the highest levels, and have everything in place to become stars of the not-too-distant future.

Piedmont 2013 – Ten years on

Freshly returned from the first of our two annual tours around Piedmont to assess the 2019 Barolo and Barbaresco vintages, we decided to make a concerted effort to also taste an array of 2013s at ten years old. Common knowledge dictates that the best wines from these two mighty denominations require a decade to reveal their magic, and while there is flex in this from producer to producer, it remains a good rule of thumb.

Coincidentally, producers this year seemed relatively open to making vintage comparisons (a first!), with many independently citing 2013 as the vintage best equipped to show how the 2019s will look like at aged ten, with perhaps an extra kick of inner sweetness to the fruit and polish to the tannins in 2019.

In 2017, I wrote that “though constantly on the move, we could not escape the feeling of eager anticipation and excitement in the region – there is certainly something in the air.”  We described the 2013s as being “beautifully styled and restrained, with fresh acidities and sweet tannins [that are nowhere near] as daunting as other ‘old-school’ greats like 2010 and 2006 […] Although present, the concentrated, crystalline fruit flavours ensure that they are not overly marked, and the long slow ripening period with wide diurnal swings allowed them to ripen until sweet and finely etched, without holding too much power and austerity.”

Wines for Wine Lovers

The Communes of Barolo and Barbaresco

We understand that many Justerini & Brooks customers are fully au fait with the intricacies of the Piedmont’s two principal wine regions; Barolo and Barbaresco, but for those less familiar, or perhaps just in need of a refresher, we provide here a summary of the key communes in both regions. When one considers the diversity of soil, elevation, aspect and micro-climate across the Langhe, even before the complexities of vine age, clonal variation, training methods and winemaking technique, it becomes ever-clearer that the wines of Barolo and Barbaresco comprise some of the most terroir-driven of any wine region in the world. 

In the context of noteworthy single cru Barolo and Barbaresco, the likes of which are represented in our offer today, a little insight into the broad characteristics of each commune may help to narrow down a selection of wines that will appeal to your personal tastes. To the connoisseurs, we hope that a simple overview might tempt a move into new areas, or some lesser-known crus, in the pursuit of diverse and contemporary Barolo and Barbaresco collections.

For your convenience, we have also included a summary of the single crus we offer from each commune. While there are a total of eleven approved communes in the DOCG Barolo appellation, we have opted to focus only on the most prominent six. Not included are Roddi, Grinzane Cavour, Novello (home to Ravera – an increasingly famous single vineyard), Cherasco and Diano d’Alba. In Barbaresco we have opted not to include San Rocco Seno d'Elvio.