SommSelect Editorial Director David Lynch is back with a powerful, yet impeccably balanced, Barolo from one of the region’s most famous single vineyards.
As you dive deeper into the world of Barolo, certain vineyard names will begin to jump out at you, regardless of how large or small those names are printed on the label. As in Burgundy, the vineyards of Barolo have been studied and parceled to the point where “vineyard-designated” wines are considered the pinnacle of excellence in the zone. It wasn’t always like this in Barolo, and most producers still release a wine from multiple vineyard sites as their ‘base’ bottling, but single-vineyard wines like this 2011 “Ginestra” from Renzo Seghesio are the height of Barolo geekdom. Generations of Seghesios lived on a farmstead (cascina) atop the “Pajana” vineyard, a site most consider to be a sub-section of the Ginestra cru, on the eastern slopes of the village of Monforte d’Alba. It’s one of Barolo’s most famous vineyards, known for muscular expressions of the Nebbiolo grape—not just from Seghesio but from other big names such as Clerico, Conterno-Fantino, and Elio Grasso. This 2011 does the site proud, and, as more broad-shouldered expressions of Barolo go, it’s one of the best wines I’ve tasted from the region in quite some time. This is extremely cellar-worthy stuff at a reasonable price—I may be too Italo-centric, but I can’t think of many similarly priced wines from elsewhere with this much long-term potential.
As is always the case with me, however, I’m always happily draining bottles I tell others to lay down, as I did with this one. By any measure, this is “young” Barolo—not released into the market until the beginning of 2016—but the little bottle age it has gotten has paid some dividends: Nebbiolo’s characteristically firm tannins and high acid are both in evidence, but they’ve softened a bit, and the aromatic profile has started to broaden into more floral, savory territory. It’s the aromatics of Nebbiolo that make its fans (like me) swoon, and this wine, after some time open, already offers a tremendous amount of intrigue on that front.
The Ginestra cru runs along a south-facing slope with a slight curvature, while Pajana follows similar contours along a parallel slope. Typically, Seghesio bottles a wine from Pajana as a riserva-level wine (meaning longer barrel and bottle aging), while also producing a Barolo labeled “Ginestra,” effectively treating them as separate parcels. In either case, the wines are fermented in stainless steel and aged in large Slavonian oak botti for 3-4 years, plus another year in bottle, before release.
In the glass, Seghesio’s 2011 “Ginestra” is a deep, translucent garnet with characteristic orange and pink highlights at the rim, and the aromatics are already in bloom: dark cherry, black raspberry, blood orange, rose petal, baking spice, licorice, tar and wet stones all waft from the glass, and carry through to the full-bodied palate. It has enough extract to be accessible in its youth, but you can feel the grip of tannin underneath, with the minerality punctuated on the otherwise floral finish. I’ve been tasting a lot of Barolos that feel a little over-ripe, even “cooked,” and with a pronounced alcohol burn to boot—this wine impressed me most with its balance, showing that a full-bodied red with ample alcohol can still have nerve and lift. If you’re having a bottle now, decant it at least an hour before serving at 60 degrees in large Burgundy stems. Its balance and tensile strength suggest a long life ahead; I foresee it starting to peak around 2025 but continuing to drink well past 2030. So grab a few! To eat, you’re going to want something braised and beefy, so I’m going back to a favorite short rib preparation. I know it’s the middle of summer; set the air conditioner to “meat locker” and cook this dinner. It’s worth it!
— D.L.
