The Emergence of a Titan - Sot's Top 17 Is if Anything Better than His 16 - Simply a Must Buy for Barolo Lovers - Will Be Strictly Allocated Some Day

 Maurizio Sót
 - Peak Barolo Burgundification
 - Almost Other Worldly Precision
 - I.M Pei's East Building of the National Gallery of Art
 - I've Never Banged the Drum on a Barolo As Hard as This One
 - Easily Top 20 Langhe
 - Some of the Most Precise Wines In Italy, Bar None
 - Pretty Much Flawless
 - Comparable in Precision to Pierre Brisset
 - Must Buy for Barolo Collectors
 - I'm Guessing Will Be Strictly Allocated Post Pandemic 

The 2017 Vintage
 - "mid-weight Barolos ...classic structure" (Galloni)
 - "very true to site" (Galloni)
 - "The best 2017s are exceptionally polished, vivid and flat-out delicious" (Galloni)

2017 Cascina Sot Barolo Bricco San Pietro
 - As Good as the 2016
 - Better than the 2016 on Day 2
 - (Which Should Not Be Possible)
 - Nose: on Another Level from a Normal Barolo
 - Mineral, Cherry Flower and Unreal Nuances
 - Deep Cherry Fruit
 - So Fine, Deep and Precise
 - Even Young, a 9.6 Nose... Maybe Higher
 - Perfumed and So Elite
 - So Wild and Distinctive
 - Leather, Tar, Roses and Tea
 - Insane Penetrating Perfume
 - Nose Has Exotic Spices on day 2
 - An Insane Perfume and Such Depth
 - Palate: Stunning Depth and Purity
 - Incredible Core of Fruit
 - A Super Intense Blast of Fruit and Spice 
 - Nuanced and Complex
 - As It Opens, Elite Level Deliciousness
 - Perfect Acidic Balance
 - Stunning Length
 - Bursting at the Seams - Will Be Brilliant with Age

2020 Cascina Sot Langhe Nebbiolo
 - Exact Same Style and Precision of the $73 Barolo
 - This Blew Me Away
 - This Will Blow You Away
 - Nose: Incredibly Complex
 - Strawberries from Heaven, Deep Mid Season Cherry
 - Spice, Citrus Rind
 - Tar and Flowers
 - Palate: Super Juicy, Crazy Linear
 - Terrific Fruit and Freshness
 - Lovely Earthy Sweetness
 - So Energetic and Precise
 - Spherical, Concentrated and Focused
 - Amazing Precision for a Wine at This Price Point
 - Like Buying Village Burgundy from an Elite Producer 
 - But for $24.99

Please open the 16 Barolo Bricco San Pietro and the 19 Langhe Nebbiolo as You Read This Offer

"In tasting, the 2017s are mid-weight Barolos with the classic structure of Nebbiolo. They are often intensely aromatic. Acids and tannins are prominent in many wines. The fruit profiles are ripe, often distinctly red-toned, but not cooked or over-ripe. Perhaps most importantly, the 2017 Barolos are very true to site, which is always a concern with vintages marked by warm weather. The best 2017s are exceptionally polished, vivid and flat-out delicious. If tasted blind, my guess is that few people would identify the wines as coming from a hot and very dry year." - Antonio Galloni, Vinous

Maurizio Sot
I was very lucky to be able to sell the brilliant wines of Maurizio Sot in the very high quality and very in demand 2016 vintage. You'd have to work very hard to make bad wine in 2016. The true test of a winemaker is how they did in a vintage where conditions were not ideal. When you have a vintage like 2017 where it required actual skill to make great wine, I was dying to see how Maurizio Sot performed. I expected a strong performance but not this strong! He blew away my expectations and I firmly believe he is one of the elite talents of the new generation of young Langhe talent. 

I tasted his two 17 Barolo over two days and was blown away. He retained the Sot style of precision and
finesse and also embraced the beautiful fruit and style of the 2017 vintage. These wines were 50% Sot and 50% 2017. That is the mark of a true winemaker. Let the style of the estate speak and let the style of the vintage speak. I also think now after tasting a good amount of 17 Langhe wines the strength is in Barolo and not Barbaresco to speak in generalizations. I love 17 Barolo and yes they can be drunk young with heavy decants but the better wines can be cellared for years. 

2017 - Great Wine Is Made in the Vineyard
First, I would encourage you all to  read this article by Antonio Galloni about the 2017 vintage. He does an exceptional job of explaining how competent producers have adjusted to hotter years. Basically, in the past, producers would do everything that they could to create riper wines. Now, in hotter years, producers are doing the opposite.  An example is canopy management, (deleafing) where producers often remove leaves to expose more grapes to direct sunlight. Capable producers don't do this in warm years.

The Wines
Today's Barolo which is the 2017 Cascina Sot Barolo Bricco San Pietro for $72.99 on a 3-pack, showed brilliantly on day 1 but was even better on day 2. This is very very rare for Nebbiolo in my opinion as it tends to oxidize overnight. Not Sot's. Every wine was tremendous on day 2. For me that is the true test of a genius winemaker in the Langhe.  

Below are the reasons to buy this wine before I get into the tasting note. 

The Barolo
1) This is $73 and pricey for an unknown name producer.  I get that.  This would be $100+ through 3 tier.  But it's pricey for a reason.  The Italians and Swiss are gobbling this up and I only got an allocation because sales were slower than normal as a result of the pandemic.
2)  This comes from a Cru no one has ever heard of (Bricco San Pietro). Famous Crus really control the market in Barolo but with global warming the game is changing. Vineyards not thought of as elite 20 years ago are now elite. This is an elite vineyard. I tasted this together with $150 bottle of Barolo that I'll sell later this year and it was its equal although in a vastly different style. 
3) This is one of the 2-3 best Baroli we have ever sold. This is $200 in Burgundy or from a "known" producer.  
4) I've never said that we had a Barolo that was a member of the elite before this offer. Now that I've tasted an "easy" vintage  and a "difficult" vintage I am 100% certain that Maurizio Sot is a generational talent. 

The nose is on another level from the normal Barolo. So much mineral, cherry flower and unreal nuances. Spice, iodine, just penetrating and so refined. Deep cherry fruit with a citrus twang. Really fine. Wow the cherry fruit aromas are absolutely knee bucklers. Just so fine, deep and precise. Wow the florals now kicking in. This is a 9.6 nose. Maybe higher. Wow that is a sexy beast. After air it gets so so good. Such sappy and pure aromas with a wild herbal, mineral, feral side as well. Perfumed and so elite but so wild and distinctive. Love it. Leather, tar, roses and tea as it starts to open in the glass.  Nose opens up more (50 minutes) with an insane penetrating perfume. Less wild after air, more of a crushed rock and mineral perfume. This did close down after 6 hours and re-emerge on day 2 stronger than ever. More on that later. 

Now on to the palate. This needs 45 minutes as it is very tight out of the bottle. But then! Stunning depth and purity but with big suave tannins and acid plus an incredible core of fruit. This is an obvious 9.5. off the bat but this, like the 16, needs mega air.  Nose gets so complex and expansive as it airs. Huge fruit. But nuanced and complex. An airy sense of minerality. Almost like an ocean breeze. Okay nose is a 9.6 now. Just sick. Palate becoming more concentrated with an hour of air. Fruit getting sweeter and sappier. But tannins are still fierce and leading the way. After 2.5 hours the elegance picks up and it gets more spherical and sweet. Wonderful. But day 2 is when this really showed the best. All the tannins became more sweet, silky and integrated and the wine just blew me away. 

The Style
Maurizio Sót's wines are some of the most and dare I say, top 1% precision of any Langhe wines I've ever had. It's like if Pierre Brisset's precision was transferred over to the Langhe. But even with the precision of Brisset these wines have stunning classical old school Langhe Nebbiolo character but there is a winemaking exactitude here I have barely run into anywhere else in my travels. Polished traditional with laser-like precision. You sit with these wines on your palate for a minute or more, searching for a flaw, and there is no flaw to be found. That's why I reference the iconic Pei design of the National Gallery - the triangle that disappears at a point.

The clarity of the fruit and the terroir, as a result of this precision is more pronounced. These wines are works of art and things of beauty one rarely finds in wine. I'm very surprised that no one has them yet and also that on google if you search for them there is not much and on page one about ten hits down you start getting results for hotels near Cascina Sót which means basically there is not much out there. I've never met Maurizio or visited but I will one day as I hope the brilliant wines of Maurizio Sót become a mainstay at Fass Selections for years to come.

The nose has exotic spices on day 2 but the Insane palate is the story on day 2. So juicy, so silky and so structured. Such stunning length. So supple. Amazing depth and material here. This could use a few years but is absolutely ridiculously wonderful on day 2. Nose has an insane perfume and such depth. Just sick. It's such a sexy, silky, velvety sphere on day 2. This is EQUAL to the 16. That is something I'm still trying to wrap my head around.

Next up is the 2020 Cascina Sot Langhe Nebbiolo for $24.99 on a 4-Pack. Maurizio is the Langhe Nebbiolo master for under $25. It's not even a debate. Below are some thoughts on why this is a brilliant wine. 

Langhe Nebbiolo
1) Langhe Nebbiolo can be boring. I'll totally admit it. It's like a business card for the estate that is often sold at restaurants. 
2) This is NOT the case with the Sòt Langhe Nebbiolo. 
3) This is like a perfect amuse bouche. 
4) It's the exact same style and precision of the $73 Barolo and it's only $24.99. 
5) It's a sick sick wine from a category that generally is good but never is blowing people away. This will blow you away. It did that to me. 
6) It lasted 3 days open when even the best Langhe Nebbiolo will oxidize overnight. 
7) The wine is sick. Inquire about case prices. 

Stunning nose. This is the 2nd vintage I've had and this is the real deal Langhe Nebbiolo. Gorgeous light color. Opaque. Strawberries from heaven. Spice. Citrus rind. Loads of spice, tar and flowers. Just so aromatic. It has all the precision and fruit one wants from top wines in the Langhe. Tremendous color. Looks like Chateau Simone rose. The nose after air has watermelon, strawberry, spice with a lipstick-like intensity and loads of spice, earth, florals and mega mineral. Deep mid season cherry.

Palate is super juicy, crazy linear and has terrific fruit and freshness. So energetic and precise. Terrific grainy tannins and lovely earthy sweetness. Chewy and toothsome. A great wine. As it airs it gets more spherical, concentrated and focused. Also some smoke on the nose. One of the best LN's we sell. Terrific acids, man is this zingy and fresh and even has some citric zest to it. Tannins build up on the finish. Very serious Langhe Nebbiolo. Palate is super focused, sleek and super tight. Juicy and complex with just amazing precision for the level.  Big slatey tannins. So clean and so fresh. 

The Estate

Established in 1975 in Monforte d'Alba by Giuseppe and Maria, the estate was run by them and their son Leonardo and his wife Silvana. Maurizio, their son, is now in the picture as well and has made the estate super elite. Also all the wines are bottled with a special type of agglomerated cork that guarantees no TCA!

2017 Cascina Sot Barolo Bricco San Pietro - $74.99 

($218.97 3-pack) 

2020 Cascina Sot Langhe Nebbiolo - $26.99 ($99.96 4-pack)