Grower Barolo: An Important New Langhe Producer - 2010 Barolo Riserva and the First Italian White We've Sold.

Barolo Riserva "Le Strette" 2010
 - Highest Rated Vintage of the Past 30 Years
 - Classic, Incredibly Well Made, Old School Barolo
 - Really, Really, Really Well Made - Incredible Balance
 - Intense Aromatics (Roses, Light Cherry)
 - Amazing Structure - Will Age for a Decade Plus

Le Strette Nas-Cetta Pasinot 2016
 - Single Vineyard, 70 Year Old Vines
 - The Grape Is Related to Nebbiolo -  The Complexity of a Red
 - "A Red Dressed as a White"
 - Complex, Mineral, Salty, Deep, Juicy
 - So Dense You Can Almost Chew It
 - Only 80 Cases Made
 - Insane Value for a Wine of This Quality and Depth (Please Ignore the Low Price)

I hope you have the chance to read my recent blog post on Grower Barolo. The short of it is that there

is a new generation of top winemakers in Barolo making incredible wines because the wineries are run by trained oenologists who are totally focused on their own vineyards and the vinification of their wines.  There are a good number of very, very well made wines that Italian wine lovers do not know. I hope to introduce some of them this year.

Savio Daniele could well be the poster child for the Grower Barolo movement.  He and his brother Mauro are trained oenologists who studied first at the renowned school at Alba and then in Turin.  They were consulting oenologists for other wineries for quite a while. Savio's wife's family owned land in Barolo but were mostly selling the grapes. The brothers decided to give up consulting and farm the land themselves and make their own wine.  You can taste their expertise, dedication, passion and skill in every bottle. Tasting here is like tasting at a great estate in Germany or France. Every bottle, every year is great. The vineyards and the cellar are run by grownups. Smart, experienced grownups.  I'm just over the top excited that I stumbled on them and am so excited to be selling them. The wines are so great, I'm even selling an Italian white!

Just to gild the lily, I've decided to make the first Le Strette wine that I sell to be the Barolo Riserva "Le Strette" 2010 for $64.99 each on a 3 pack purchase.  There is (obviously) not a ton of this left given that 2010 was the highest rated vintage on the Parker vintage chart (going back to 1970). But I begged and got a small allocation of the remaining bottles.  The wine is absolutely stunning old school, aromatically-driven Barolo. Just so, so, so, so, so well made. Perfect balance. Everything is just there, living in harmony the way we envision people doing in heaven.  The nose is just a fresh, fresh, fresh bouquet of fresh pink roses with a hint of tar and spice. The palate is simply gorgeous. I've had 2010s that I've loved that are massive - this is not that. Think more Volnay-like.  Very Burgundian. The light cherry fruit is there but it lives in harmony as a counterpoint to the internal aromatics, which are absolutely stunning. Just classic nebbiolo roses, tar, a hint of tobacco and gorgeous spices. There are integrated tannins that are still present.  There is amazing structure on this wine. You can drink it now with a decant but it will be way better in 2-3 years. Frankly, this wine is going to be simply gorgeous in 2-3 years and it will age for over a decade. Wow.

The second wine is the first Italian white wine I've sold since the opening of Fass Selections.

Why I've Never Sold an Italian Wine Before
Not to be too self-referential in one E-Mail but I recently wrote a blog post on why I find most Italian whites to be dull and how I'm starting to see some interesting ones.  In short, the Italians think that white wines are for aperitifs and expect them to be mostly fruity, floral and (to my taste) rather dull.

The Wine
I've finally found an Italian white wine that is both delicious and complex enough to be worthy of my customers.  It's the Le Strette Nas-Cetta Pasinot 2016 for $22.99 each on a 4 pack purchase. This is a single vineyard wine and only 1,000 bottles were made.  They only make this particular bottling in very good years.

The Grape and Vineyard
The grape is a fairly esoteric varietal that is an indigenous grape from Novello.  The grape is related to Nebbiolo and while the wine is white, it really has the profile of a red wine in terms of its complexity.  Pasinot is a single vineyard which is basically the first cru for Nas-cetta in the Novello municipality). Pasinot is the dialectname of the hill Pasinotti, the  historical name for Nas-cetta grape in Novello. 2016 comes 100% from the oldest existent vineyard planted on this hill in 1948. These are 70 year old vines.

Description

This is not an Italian picnic quaffer.  The nose is really, really complex. Light, pretty spring flowers intermingle with honey, citrus and herbs on the nose.  It seems like a relatively aromatic wine until you taste it. Then the gorgeous minterality blows you away. The palate is really deep, complex and dense.  This is the kind of complexity that only comes from really old vines. Terrific minerality and salinity interweaving with citrus fruits.  It's so dense you can almost chew it. Really, really salty. You really can't believe it's from Italy - it's more like 1er cru or Grand Cru Chablis.  Incredibly fresh and juicy with amazing acidity. Really long and sapid.

2010 La Strette Barolo Riserva - $66.99 ($194.95 3-pack) 

(VERY LIMITED)

2016 La Strette Nas-Cetta Pasinot - $24.99 ($91.96 4-pack) 

(VERY LIMITED)