For impassioned Italian wine enthusiasts, today’s epic offer should excite you as much as legends Conterno, Mascarello, and Giacosa despite avoiding three-digit prices, global fanfare, and elite positioning in cellars/wine lists. The exact opposite fuels this stunning 2009 Nebbiolo: rock-bottom pricing and practically zero exposure on the broader market. In fact, Sorelle de Nicola Feyles manages to fly so low under the radar, it’s nearly impossible to find a bottle stateside, and our encounters with the wines can be fully counted on one hand. And yet, the wild goose chase is completely worth it because where else but Feyles can you find a 12-year-old, $32 Langhe Rosso that drinks like a top, evolving Barolo/Barbaresco?
Forget calling it a rarity, I can think of zero comparisons when factoring everything in: chemical-free farming, natural fermentation, five years of aging in barrel/bottle before release, and a seriously humble annual production. All this, mind you, under the guidance of one man, a quiet Piedmontese master who has single-handedly crafted 56 consecutive vintages. If today’s ‘09 doesn’t make it into your possession, one of three assumptions can be made: (1) you didn’t check your email, (2) we quickly sold out, or (3) mind-blowing, perfectly aged Italian reds aren’t for you. For $32, you simply cannot find this level of complexity, maturity, and authenticity in Nebbiolo. Best of all, this rare gem still has another dozen years of evolving to do, so decant a couple now, and stash the others deep so they can dismantle a number of $75+ Barolos and Barbarescos in the years to come. Life doesn’t offer many chances to join Feyles’ hush-hush cult club, so do not miss out!
Founded in 1964 by Maria Feyles and her son-in-law, Antonio de Nicola, the small estate has been run almost single-handedly by Antonio ever since. Now in his eighties, he’s crafted some sensational, long-aged Piedmont reds that have stolen our breath. This is old-school Nebbiolo, farmed without synthetics, made without intervention, and aged in ancient Slavonian barrels for years. Whereas a lot of highly traditional Nebbiolo can contain its fair share of flaws, Antonio’s are tremendously pure, vibrating with structure, perfume, and earthiness.
Overall, the Feyles estate farms just seven hectares of vines largely planted to Nebbiolo for Barolo and Barbaresco production, the latter of which is de-classified and used in today's Langhe bottling. For all vines, no chemicals are used and harvesting is carried out by hand. Today’s 2009 underwent a classically long maceration on its skins and underwent a native, airborne yeast fermentation. The resulting wine then spent two years in large Slavonian oak casks and another two in bottle before an initial release. Sulfur was used sparingly throughout. This specific parcel only just left Feyles’ cellar months ago.
Typically, a hefty price tag is linked to a 10+-year-old Piedmontese Nebbiolo, so we’ll urge our readers to grab a bunch of bottles if they can stomach the bill. Today, pricing is a nonfactor: At $32, this should be a no-brainer case purchase that will exponentially award for years to come. All you need to do is keep the service temperature around 60 degrees, pull out your best Burgundy stems, and decant it for at least 45 minutes. The latter piece of advice is key! This ‘09 was good right out of the bottle, great within an hour, and absolutely smoking well into the evening. As time passed, it only gained vibrancy and character, erupting with dark cherry, dried plum, roasted strawberries, barnyard, licorice, rose petal, fired clay, old leather, wild herbs, exotic spice, and hints of charred orange peel. At 12 years old, this is in impeccable condition: The palate is ample and lively with a fine-grained tannic and mineral backbone that bolsters the many layers of dark forest berry fruit. This will dust a great deal of Barolo and Barbaresco competition. What an incredible Nebbiolo! Please, please, don’t miss out.
