One look at this label and some of you might experience a little déjà vu. About a month ago, our offer of Feyles’ 2008 Barolo “Vigna della Serra” caused quite a stir, as well-aged Nebbiolo is wont to do. Look more closely and you’ll see that today’s wine is a single-vineyard Barbaresco from the same vintage, from the vineyard that started it all for this under-the-radar property: “Vigna di Montesommo,” a sub-section of the “Bordini” cru in the village of Neive.
The Feyles vines in Montesommo date back to 1970, providing exceptional raw material for this ethereal, electric Barbaresco Riserva. Not that any was needed, but this wine offers delicious validation of the “traditional” style of crafting Barbaresco/Barolo in Piedmont: Winemaker/proprietor Antonio de Nicola, who has run this small estate almost single-handedly since the late-1960s, opts for long, ambient-yeast fermentations in antique concrete tanks, followed by extended aging in large oak
botti, then bottle, before release into the market. This is not an estate that crops up often in the press, and I confessed in a previous offer to not being familiar with the Feyles wines previously—but I’m sure glad to have them in my life now. Although I hear it’s difficult, I’m trying to arrange a visit, all while working through my personal stash of today’s 2008—a fine-grained, earthy, headily aromatic Nebbiolo right in its prime drinking window and, “old-school” methodology notwithstanding, devoid of flaws. These bottles come direct from the winery and are spot-on, so once again, your mission is simple: Pounce on some of this before it disappears!
All these years buying Barolo wines, and visiting the region, and I never had the pleasure of encountering Feyles wines—which isn’t to say more savvy collectors than me weren’t snapping up bottles when they turned up in the US: These wines have a following, much like those of another old-school Piedmontese traditionalist, Lorenzo Accomasso. Antonio de Nicola founded the estate in 1964 with his mother-in-law, Maria Feyles (which explains the jumble of names on the label), and their first purchase was about two hectares of vines in the “Montesommo” cru. As noted above, Montesommo is part of the larger “Bordini” vineyard, which is farmed by several noteworthy Barbaresco producers, including Fontanabianca, Elvio Cogno and La Spinetta. Now in his eighties, Antonio de Nicola is an eccentric and elusive figure in the region, as detailed in an excellent
profile by Jeff Miller of Grape Expectations, the Feyles importer. On the one hand, there don’t seem to be many “rules” with de Nicola, but on the other, all the Feyles wines are aged for at least five years before release. Overall production hovers around 50,000 bottles per year, from just seven total hectares of vines in Barbaresco and Barolo.
For those of you who partook in the 2008 Barolo “Vigna della Serra” from Feyles, today’s 2008 Barbaresco Riserva is its slightly more delicate, perfumed, ‘feminine’ sibling. While the Barolo’s tannins were still going strong a decade in, the Barbaresco is a bit tamer—its tannins have a finer grain, allowing the dried-cherry fruit and potpourri of spices and herbs to shine. In the glass, it displays a garnet core moving to a brick-orange/pink rim, with aromas that leave no doubt whatsoever that classic Nebbiolo is what you’re drinking: cherry, currant, wild strawberry, orange pekoe tea, tobacco leaf, leather, sandalwood, and a basket-full of dried roses. Medium-bodied yet persistent as all get-out, this wine is silky and delicious now but still has lots left in the tank: It’s poised to keep evolving over the next 5-7 years before starting to fade. Decant it (watching for fine sediment) about 30 minutes before serving in Burgundy stems at 60-65 degrees. It is so textbook, with loads of “secondary” aromas lending savor and complexity, that all sorts of woodsy, autumnal, ‘hunter’s-style’ dishes are in play here. Game birds like pheasant, quail, and duck come to mind—as does turkey—but a well-browned roast chicken would be plenty good, too. Check out the attached recipe, which picks up some earthy depth from mushrooms. If anything could be said to “taste like Fall,” this is it!
