My weekly wine - Tasting Piedmont
About 2 years ago I had the chance to visit this amazing area in Italy - staying at an amazing place in Serralunga Di Montefalco and cruising around to all the Barolo towns - Barolo, La Morra, Castilglione, Monforte and Serralunga. Besides trying the big Barolos, I fell in love with Barbera, in particular with Barbera d’Alba.
Since then, I am always enjoying to go to tastings of those wines, and here my finds:
This time my pick fell on 2 wines from the same producer the Marengo Family in La Morra. The family is producing wine since 1899 from about 6 ha of land - 1.2 ha are from the Le Brunate Cru vineyard in La Morra, one of the finest and 1 ha of Bricco Delle Viole in Barolo. The winemaking and growing is kept as natural as possible: grass covered crops, use of copper and sulphur as little as possible , fermentation with natural occurring yeast and no clarification or filtering.
Barbera d’Alba Pugnane 2016, shows this wonderful deep ruby color, clear and clean, and presents itself with aromas of red and black ripe cherry, liquorice, and baking spices. The texture is creamy with well-integrated medium strong tannins. This Barbera is balanced - flavor intensity, alcohol and body are in proportion to each other. Best thing, this Barbera is still young, and can age for another 5-10 years, I am looking forward to try it in a couple years.
Very different in style of course, Barolo Bricco Delle Vicole 2013. The light ruby color reminds in a Pinot Noir but the nose and texture are as far away from Pinot aromas as possible. Ripe strawberry, raspberry, bramble and blackcurrant in conjunction with tea leaves and spicy, herbal undertones. The oak treatment and aging shows in toasty, smoky, earthy aromas with still grippy but integrated tannins. This wine feels a bit fuller to me than some other Barolos, but it’s also still young and could develop for another 10 years.
Give it a taste let me know what you think in the comments.
And if you like to know more about Marengo wines here the importer website: http://www.marcdegrazia.com/italian-wine-selections/italian-wine-producers/marengo.html
Happy tasting - Prösterchen.