GIACOMO CONTERNO - Barolo Cascina Francia 2011
Roberto Conterno embodies the traditional and timeless style of Barolo.
Long aging in old tuns, wines out of fashion capable of improving over more than 30 years. Monfortino is a legendary wine, surely the largest and most authentic wine in all of Italy with Brunello di Montalcino by Gianfranco Soldera.
Situation : For many connoisseurs the world over, the Azienda Giacomo Conterno embodies the soul of Barolo, its unyielding tradition of long aging and rigorously authentic wines, capable of defying time. Monfortino 1958, 1971, 1978 and 1982 are legends that many enthusiasts dream of one day approaching. The undisputed leader of the traditionalists, the estate carries the torch of the classic style of old-fashioned Barolo, aged in large Slavonian oak casks for at least 4 years, up to 6 years for the Monfortino cuvée. Out of time and fashion, this last wine is an unalterable monument, which deserves at least 10 to 15 years of aging before being approached.
Giacomo Conterno, the founder, is one of the pioneers among Barolo winemakers to bottle his wines in the 1920s, at a time when they were mainly sold in barrels. His children Aldo and Giovanni took over in 1961 but separated in 1969. The charismatic Giovanni, who died in 2004, was the guarantor of the family heritage and in 1974 acquired the vineyard of Cascina Francia (renamed Francia from 2010 ). Giovanni has built the worldwide reputation of the estate, unanimously considered one of the greatest winegrowers in Italy. His son Roberto Conterno, born in 1968, joined him in 1988, and now presides over the destinies of the estate, which he recently enlarged.
The vines : In more than one way, this area shows its singularity. If in the past, as was common in Barolo, the wines from the purchase of grapes, from 1978 the wines came exclusively from the Cascina Francia vineyard, bought in 1974. The estate's vineyard was for a long time made up exclusively of these 14 hectares in one piece, in the Francia cru, facing south and southwest at the southern end of the Serralunga d'Alba area, the part of the Barolo appellation on which the grapes ripen the latest. For a long time, the estate only produced 3 wines (Barbera d'Alba Francia, Barolo Francia, and only in the best years, Riserva Monfortino), but Roberto Conterno acquired in 2007 a plot in the Cerretta cru , still in the Serralunga sector. In 2008 and 2009, only a Barbera d'Alba and a nebbiolo were produced on the Cerretta cru, but since 2010 Roberto has judged that the latter now deserves the Barolo appellation. It is therefore now fascinating to be able to compare, for the happy amateurs who have access to the wines of the two crus, two very different expressions of Barbera d'Alba and Barolo from the 2010 vintage.
In 2015, Roberto succeeded in acquiring from the Gigi Rosso estate a new wine from Barolo, Arione, contiguous to Francia and located to the south of the Serralunga sector. This 3.6 hectare plot is made up of 1.5 ha of nebbiolo (which will make Barolo), and 2 hectares of nebbiolo, located beyond the limit of the Barolo appellation, which may give Nebbiolo d 'Alba. We will follow with great interest the arrival of these new wines.
All the work in the vineyard is extremely demanding, including an experimental vineyard where mass selections, of old and recent varieties of nebbiolo, are tested and evaluated for future use.
The cellar : A veritable cathedral, the vast underground cellar is exceptionally clean, filled with large wooden casks with a container of 4000 to 5000 liters, in which the wines are aged for a long time. The oldest 40- or 50-year-old casks have been replaced in recent years by new casks from Stockinger, whose woods Roberto demanded to be dried for 8 to 10 years. Relentlessly pursuing a desperate quest to achieve the highest possible quality, Roberto will stop at no expense to achieve his goal. He enlarged the buildings of the winery and recently invested in large truncated conical wooden casks from Stockinger, in which the fermentations take place. An extraordinary destemmer, unique in the world, allows work closer to the precision of a master sushi than any other known winemaking equipment. Roberto has equipped himself with a spectacular bottling line, capable of bottling up to jeroboams with absolute safety: bottling these large containers by hand seemed too random and, constantly seeking to eliminate the slightest risk. with a small defect, he had a high-tech jewel designed to meet his requirements. To guard against counterfeiting and the risk of cork taste, it has developed in partnership with cork stopper producers a system that marks each cork with an identification code. He helped design a machine for his use that evaluates each cork, not only to detect and reject any cork containing tiny traces of TCA (molecule responsible for cork taste), but also small defects in the structure of the cork. , which may affect its effectiveness in its ability to perfectly protect the corking of wines. The future will make it possible to evaluate the effectiveness of this innovation, but Roberto considers that it thus eliminates the risk of corkage taste and ensures 99.9% of the perfect preservation of wine in bottles, free from defects for optimal aging. .
The wines: In the best years, a selection is made among the nebbiolo clusters still on the vine. The best are thus reserved for the wine that could become Monfortino. The two barolos are fermented identically for 4 or 5 weeks in truncated wooden vats, but no temperature control is used for the vats intended to produce Monfortino. The wines are then racked in large tuns for aging, which lasts 4 years for Barolo Francia and Cerretta, and at least 7 years for Monfortino. But longer aging is possible: the legendary Monfortino 1970 was only bottled in 1985 .... Some years, Roberto judges that the quality is such that the entire production of Francia nebbiolo is retained for the Monfortino. This was the case in 2002, where there was only Monfortino and no Francia. 2013 will have the same destiny: tasted in casks in the summer of 2016, this wine is destined for legend.
The two barbera d'Alba are prodigious wines: ripe and velvety, they are full of aromas and flavors of ripe fruit. Barbera Francia often offers more floral sweetness, while Barbera Cerretta (soil richer in clay) has a little more depth and vigor, with an alcohol still beautifully integrated. Extremely elegant, Barolo Francia is irresistible, perfectly harmonious in its myriad of flavors and fleshy tannins. Barolo Cerretta is richer and more vigorous, full of sap and density, with tremendous length. Barolo Riserva Monfortino is an incredible wine of complexity, with a full and chiseled substance, melted and fresh, of the greatest persistence. A monument out of time and fashion, which embodies the highest expression of Barolo's genius.
