Giovanni Rosso Barolo Serralunga dAlba 2012 ANDREW GUARD WINE IMPORTS

Davide Rosso is now established as a leading producer of Barolo. For the last three generations (since 1905), his family has owned six different vineyards sites in Serralunga. His two main vineyards are the Cru’s ‘Cerretta ” where he has about 2ha and the very steep and limestone rich ‘La Serra ” in this prestigious area he is neighbours with Bruno Giacosa, Angelo Gaja and Giacomo Conterno. His vines are, on average, 40 years old and farmed organically. Until Davide took over in 1998, the family sold off their grapes; the main reason that these spectacular wines have flown under the radar, until recently…
In 2011 Davide acquired the 2ha ‘prime’ spot within one of Barolo’s most hallowed sites – Vigna Rionda. Davide calls it the Romanée-Conti of Barolo and it’s grapes are coveted. Davide’s uncle Tommaso Canale, who previously owned the vines, used to sell the fruit to none other than Bruno Giacosa who produced his iconic ‘Collina Rionda ” from it and what was then one of the Italy’s greatest red wines.

In the winery he follows a traditional line, with month-long wild yeast alcoholic and malolactic fermentations in small cement vats without temperature control. Gentler ‘remontaggio’ is preferred to ‘delestaggio’ to retain fruit purity. ‘Affinamento’/elevage takes place in 50 hl botte. Consequently the wines capture the essence of their terroir.The hallmark of the estate is precision. They are incredibly fine, perfumed and detailed (relative to Burgundy, think Fourrier) and have the all the qualities to cellar well. In the mouth they are very sensual, yet with the underlying depth and structure typical of Serralunga. Overall, these are wines that offer incredible complexity, elegance and class. I buy some for my own cellar every year! – Importer Note