There’s so much I can write about Massimo Clerico, but the two most important details about today’s spellbinding 2011 Riserva are (a) it’s one of the most rare and painstakingly crafted wines in Piedmont and (b) it’s really delicious.
You could forfeit hundreds of dollars on the biggest names in Barolo and Barbaresco and would rarely encounter such depth of fruit and three dimensionality of terroir, energy, and remarkable length. This is truly a wine for the ages, world class in every way. Especially in 2011—a particularly exceptional vintage in Clerico’s small village—it’s an instant and undisputed classic. But because the family has produced wine in their small underground cellar since 1740 and their vineyards are microscopic, only a few hundred cases of this extraordinary wine can be bottled each year. In other words, grab some before it disappears!
[**Please Note: This wine is arriving from New York and will ship from our warehouse the week of November 19th]
Most waking hours of my life are spent in pursuit of the world’s greatest wines. I dedicate hours each day to tasting in importer warehouses, tearing through FedEx boxes, and traveling to taste face-to-face with the world’s top producers. It is both the most exciting aspect of my work and the most critical to the success of SommSelect. Still, sometimes all the tasting in the world doesn’t deliver the “next level” wine experience our customers demand. Sometimes, we have already discovered the best of the best, and no matter how many new wines I taste, I keep coming back to these perennial favorites. Such is the case with Massimo Clerico and his stunning Lessona Riserva.
I’ve written before that the Northern Piedmont hamlet of Lessona is renowned for the quality and cellar potential of its best wines. Unfortunately, its reputation is also severely limited by its own microscopic size. This is one of the smallest wine-producing villages in Italy—so small, in fact, that the man behind today’s brilliant wine, Massimo Clerico, owns a mere two hectares of vines in the village. These two hectares make him the third-largest landholder in the appellation! So, needless to say, many wine enthusiasts—even lovers of Barolo and Barbaresco—have never enjoyed a single bottle of Lessona.
Massimo Clerico’s ancestors have farmed grapes in Lessona since the 1700s and are regarded as founding fathers of the local wine culture. When the Italian government awarded this village DOC status in 1976, Massimo’s father Sandrino was one of the first three growers to label his Nebbiolo under the Lessona DOC appellation. Nebbiolo reigns supreme as Lessona’s dominant variety, just as in Barolo or Barbaresco, but this village’s sandy soils are situated two hours further Northeast into the foothills of the Swiss-Italian alps. In this breathtaking sub-alpine setting, Nebbiolo assumes a strikingly different character—tannins are tighter and more finely grained, alcohol is more moderate, fruit is more defined and energetic. The best of these wines require significant patience before they reach their ideal window for consumption. Today’s 2011 vintage, for instance, is firing on all cylinders and in peak form today, but it will continue evolving for another decade or more!
Massimo’s underground cellar dates back to 1740 and is stocked with equipment from decades past. After harvest—done the old-fashioned way, like everything else on the property—grape clusters are de-stemmed before beginning a weeks-long fermentation. By law, Lessona only needs to spend a year aging in barrel before release, but Massimo ages his wines much longer—three years is not unusual, and today’s 2011 vintage rested for 40 months! In comparison, other current Lessona releases in the market are from the 2014 vintage while today’s 2011 from Clerico is his current release! And speaking of the 2011 vintage, this is an outstanding vintage for Clerico’s small village of Lessona; a year that is already firing on all cylinders but still promises another decade-plus of improvement and prime drinking.
I first tasted today’s wine blind, but from the moment it splashed from the decanter into my glass, I knew it was something extraordinarily special. It’s a storm of dark cherry, plum, mountain berries, black truffles, cuban tobacco, peppery white stone and the distinct blue flower notes that define the finest examples of higher elevation northern Piedmont Nebbiolo. There’s also a concentration and brooding power that slowly envelops the palate: tannins are assertive, but skillfully integrated and the perfect complement to this Nebbiolo’s luxurious dark-fruited extract. It’s a spectacular wine so please treat it with respect by decanting for 1-2 hours and serving in your finest Burgundy stems around 60 degrees. For an ideal companion at the table, I suggest the delicious (but deceptively effortless to prepare!) Italian classic, Osso Bucco. There are many great food-wine pleasures to be had in this life, but only a handful that will rival a bite of succulent braised veal chased by a sip of today’s momentous red.
