I’m writing today’s offer right on the heels of several killer Italian offers in the $20-$25 range, but it isn’t really such a big pivot, come to think of it: This epic 2011 Barolo, from one of the most iconic single vineyard sites in the region, is an exceptional value of a different sort. Namely, the elite sort. If you know and love wine, you know that “value” and “cheap” are two very different things, and when you place Oddero’s “Vignarionda” into its appropriate peer group—i.e. the greatest, most cellar-worthy red wines in the world—the value proposition is perfectly, thrillingly clear.
The Odderos are one of Barolo’s founding families, and this branch of the clan has one of the most enviable collections of prime vineyard holdings in the zone. Their winery and home is in the village of La Morra, but their reach extends across the entirety of the appellation to include legendary ‘grand crus’ such as “Vignarionda.” Located in the village of Serralunga d’Alba and enjoying a full-south exposure, this vineyard is famous—notorious, even—for producing perhaps the most powerful, long-lived Barolo wines of all. By law, a Barolo
riserva must be aged a minimum of 62 months, including a minimum of 18 months in oak, but the Odderos go way beyond that for their Vignarionda, holding the wine in barrel-then-bottle for nearly a decade before release. In a generous vintage, maybe 3,000 bottles are produced it total, so I consider us extremely fortunate to get our hands on a few. Having gotten my hands on one myself, and communed with it over the course of three days, I can confirm: This beautiful, powerful, mesmerizing wine is just getting started. We can offer up to six bottles per person today, for your enjoyment over the next decade (or two).
For as long as I’ve been working in wine, Oddero has been a Barolo benchmark—but, in my experience, their recent releases have truly reached another level. They are known as “traditionalists,” producing wines that are built to age without any heavy ‘makeup’ from new oak (the only small barriques in the Oddero cantina are used for Barbera, while the Nebbiolo-based wines are aged in a mix of Slavonian and Austrian oak casks of 35-, 60-, and 75-hectoliter capacity). Oddero is also, like many well-known Barolo properties these days, a ‘fempire’—Mariacristina Oddero has been at the helm here for some time now, and is assisted by her niece, Isabella, and her son, Pietro (the seventh generation to join the family business).
Mariacristina’s great-grandfather, Giacomo, was one of the early legends of Barolo: born in 1847, he inherited a small property in the hamlet of Santa Maria, near La Morra, and was a shrewd assessor of vineyard real estate. He built up a collection of top Nebbiolo parcels; was one of the first to bottle and sell wines with the name ‘Barolo’ on them; and was involved in mapping and ‘delimiting’ what would become the Barolo DOCG. His grandson, also named Giacomo (and Maria Cristina’s father) brought the Oddero name to prominence in the modern era, helping them to become one of the larger landowners in the zone. Today they organically farm about 35 hectares of vineyards in both Barolo and Barbaresco, with pieces of great ‘cru’ vineyards in La Morra (“Brunate” and their home vineyard, “Bricco Chiesa”), Castiglione Falletto (“Villero”; “Bricco Fiasco”), Monforte (“Vigna Mondoca,” within the larger “Bussia” vineyard), and Serralunga (today’s “Vignarionda”). This is without a doubt one of the best-equipped properties in all of Barolo. That their wines remain such good values is a great piece of good fortune for all of us.
Whether it’s written “Vignarionda” or “Vigna Rionda,” this vineyard represents the quintessence of Barolo from Serralunga: powerful, board, dark-toned, firmly tannic. The soils of Serralunga are a rockier combination of grey marl and sandstone in comparison to more clay-rich soils in the western part of the DOCG area, and this, combined with the all-day sun exposure the vineyard enjoys—it is a rounded, crest-of-the-hill type of site—makes for some seriously concentrated Nebbiolo. The Odderos age their Vignarionda for 40 months in 35-hectoliter Austrian oak casks, following that with an extended period of bottle age in their cool cellars. Today’s 2011 is the current release (!) of this wine in the US market.
And, as you might have surmised by now, it is a stone-cold stunner. Right out of the bottle it’s like a bear just emerged from a long winter of hibernation, but after some time in a decanter (give it about an hour if enjoying the wine now) it delivers the full, kaleidoscopic Nebbiolo experience: In the glass, it’s a deep garnet red with slight bricking at the rim, with explosive aromas of Marasca cherries, blood orange, black plum, pulverized stones, tobacco, tar, and a hint of smoke. Like all the greatest Barolos, it is full-bodied but not in a sappy, heavy-on-the-extract way; it still has some tannins to resolve and lots of freshness, giving it more lithe muscularity as opposed to weight. The power of the wine comes from its persistence; as its texture softens and its flavors broaden over time (it should reach the 30-year mark with ease), it promises to become something truly special. Serve it at 60-65 degrees in your best Burgundy stems alongside something homey and braise-y, as is typical in Piedmont. Keep the food simple and let this wine do the talking. It has a lot to say! Cheers!
