Burlotto Barolo Monvigliero 2021
$399.99

Burlotto Barolo Monvigliero 2021

Yes, this is the one about which there's all the recent fuss. We've been carrying them for 10 years. One of the founding fathers of Barolo, Burlotto supplied wine to Italy's royal household and to the Duke of Abruzzi's 1899 expedition to the North Pole. From the sunny Monvigliero vineyard, this traditional Barolo (they still crush grapes using their feet) ripens early. 

From Robert Parker 

The Comm. G.B. Burlotto 2021 Barolo Monvigliero is another headline achievement from vintner Fabio Alessandria. This wine certainly stands out in a crowd, and I would argue that its floral and herbal notes (linked to traditional whole-cluster fermentation) are more expertly and elegantly presented in this epic vintage. The wine shows growing vertical intensity with rosehip tea, crushed stone, bergamot and a spicy hint of ginger. But it remains demure all the while. The tannins in the Monvigliero are more resolved compared to the Cannubi and certainly the Castelletto, but the wine offers a different kind of structural backbone that permeates the entire palate with smooth silkiness, as opposed to showing up as textural firmness on the finish alone. That said, you'll want to put this bottle aside for more cellar aging. Very few winemakers have the steel nerves to execute whole-cluster fermentation across the board. If things go south, the process can open wines up to significant risk, including Brett, volatile acidity and undesired secondary notes from fermentation. Monvigliero in Verduno is a site of moderate elevation that is influenced by the warm air currents and humidity of the nearby Tanaro River. Hazelnuts, not grapes, are the main crop across the river banks. Nebbiolo grapes mature earlier here; but perhaps more significantly, the grape stems become quite ripe, and this is something that only happens here. This little detail has opened a new chapter for the entire Barolo appellation, especially today with climate change on our minds. 

RP 100