Giovanni Rosso releases a new Langhe Nebbiolo, from Vignarionda young vines…

• 18 December 2017 /

Perhaps conscious that the tiny annual production of their prized Barolo Vignarionda, Serralunga d’Alba would a) need years in bottle before reaching its drinking zenith & b) only make it into the hands of a lucky few, Davide Rosso & his mother Ester (Canale Rosso) chose in 2015 to produce a Langhe Nebbiolo  from the giovane viti (young vines) of this mythical vineyard; a wine they particularly hope will flourish among Hotel & Ristorante customers.

Vignarionda’s prime plot of 251 P has been in Ester’s family since 1934. She remembers being hung in a basket as a child from the newly-planted vines’ branches in 1947, while her family worked around her. Times were tough then. Her father had just returned from a concentration camp weighing 40kg & soon she & her mother were left alone to manage the family estate; in those days the workers left the poor Langhe hills for the factories – now it’s the reverse. They were obliged to sell up their Vignarionda to her cousin, who in turn passed it to his son & bachelor Tommaso Canale. Tommaso made wine & sold fruit; it was with his Vignarionda fruit that Bruno Giacosa made Barolo ‘Collina Rionda’ famous. With Tommaso’s sudden death in December 2010, the whole 2ha of Vignarionda should have returned to Ester, but in the absence of a Will it was duly broken up among relatives. Ester’s not aggrieved: she’s inherited the very 1.2 hectare plot she once played amongst as a child.

So in 2011, Davide & his mother Ester decided to replant 0.8ha of straggling vines, replanting them with selezione masale Nebbiolo. At the same time they began making & releasing the Barolo Vignarionda from finest 0.4ha, 70 year old, piece lying at the bricco/top of their amazing strip of vines as an anteprima/en-primeur to finance the investment they were making in reviving their old family vineyard. Five years on, with the 2015 vintage, they felt the quality & identity of the young vine Vignarionda fruit was good enough to vinify separately, & subsequently bottled this summer. But how long they will continue to produce a Langhe Nebbiolo from Vignarionda is anyone’s guess, for sooner rather than later the vines will be giving them fruit that’s good enough to bottle as Barolo Vignarionda!

‘Davide Rosso talks to DBGitalia about his new Langhe Nebbiolo, from Vignarionda young vines’