As a lover of Burgundy and its micro-parceled vineyards, Barolo is the best place in Italy for me to indulge my obsession with wine geography—not to mention geology and topography, too. Like the Burgundians, the vintners of Barolo have done more than most to codify their vineyard landscape and produce wines that showcase the unique qualities of specific sites.
Just last month, while in a small wine shop in the region, I asked a sharp young clerk who his favorite producers were; without hesitation he grabbed a bottle of Guido Porro and opened it, and as we tasted he called the estate. Within and hour I was in Porro’s vineyards in the village of Serralunga d’Alba, where I got to parse all the subtleties firsthand. Although the Barolo DOCG has no official rankings for its “cru” vineyards, it’s widely accepted that Serralunga’s “Lazzarito” vineyard (holdings in which comprise the backbone of Guido Porro’s estate) is the equivalent of a Barolo “Grand Cru.” The majority of this site is a large, southwest-facing amphitheater, but a small section crests a hill and spills down the northeast/eastern slope. Directly adjacent to that is the primary vineyard source for this superb Langhe Nebbiolo, called “Camilu”: It’s the perfect example of a generic-sounding wine that is anything but, which we are so fond of offering here. The ‘Langhe Nebbiolo’ designation on the label doesn’t tell you that this is Grand Cru-adjacent fruit from Serralunga d’Alba—so I will! “Camilu” is a terrific value for a deeply complex, but readily accessible, Nebbiolo from Barolo. It offers immediate gratification for lovers of this grape and place, but also more depth and ‘seriousness’ than is typically found in this category. I drank a lot of epic wines during my Barolo visit, but this may have been my most exciting find!
Serralunga d’Alba, a key village on the eastern side of the Barolo zone, is known for producing the most structured, longest-lived Barolo reds in the region. Soils here are the classic limestone marl of the region, but with a greater percentage of sandstone lending more mineral grip to the wines. It stands to reason, then, that Serralunga’s Langhe Nebbiolo bottlings—wines crafted from fruit not used for Barolo, and aged for a much shorter period before release—tend to fall on the fuller end of their spectrum. What I love about Langhe Nebbiolo is the same thing I love about Rosso di Montalcino from Tuscany: You’re getting a very clear-eyed, relatively unadorned look at the grape, terroir, and vintage. Whereas Guido Porro ages his two Barolo wines from the “Lazzarito” cru—his parcels are called “Lazzairasco” and “Santa Caterina”—for three years in large Slavonian oak botti, “Camilu” only spends six months in wood (500-liter French oak tonneaux), then the the rest of the ageing is done in stainless steel. The vinification process for “Camilu,” meanwhile, is quite similar to that for the Barolo wines, with skin maceration during the primary fermentation lasting about 20-25 days to extract enough tannin to lend the wine structure.
Still, this 2016 is less tannic and more ‘primary’ in its fruit characteristics than the Porro Barolos, and this, of course, is by design. For less than $30, “Camilu” offers up a deep, dark, heady expression of Serralunga: In the glass, it’s a medium ruby moving to garnet at the rim, with telltale Nebbiolo aromas of morello cherry, red and black currant, orange rind, black tea, tobacco, tar, and warm baking spices. Medium-plus bodied and firmly structured, it is very lively and bold on the palate right now—I’ll bet a few years of cellaring will have a hugely positive impact on this wine, which needs a good 45-minute decant before serving now to calm down and knit together. Serve it in large Burgundy stems at 60 degrees with some grilled Portobellos glazed with balsamic. I’ll admit the recipe feels a little early-’90s, but the flavor combination should be spot-on. Enjoy!
