2020 Sordo, Barolo DOCG, Piemonte, Italy.
As I mentioned in my prior review, the San Francisco stop of Gambero Rosso’s Tre Bicchieri tour was where I got a chance to experience these outstanding Sordo wines and meet Sordo’s next generation, Paola Sordo, who was pouring her family’s latest Barolo efforts, including the beautiful and firmly structured 2020 Barolo “Normale” that is stuffed with top pedigreed fruit from some of the region’s best crus. I was thrilled by the vintage here, it was impressive for depth, balance and backbone, making for a very serious Nebbiolo wine with classic layers of brandied cherry, damson plum, huckleberry and orange fruits, along with earthy truffle, minty herbs, cedary wood notes, crushed flowers, chalky stones and salted black licorice. This dark brick/ruby red Barolo is taut and has a full bodied palate with fine grained, but slightly rustic tannin and a nice lift of acidity, it drinks well, but should age too, best to enjoy with a hearty meal. Interestingly, I found the Cru Perno bottling more silky and delicate at this stage, with this basic, well priced, bottling having more grip and more presence, though I loved the Perno for its haunting length and elegance. The individual plots, mostly around La Morra, all have distinctive terroir elements, adding to the complexity to this effort, with a mix of elevation and soils, including classic calcareous Marls, mineral rich clay and sandy patches.
The Sordo estate was originally established in 1912 when Giuseppe Sordo began to cultivate vineyards and make wine in the small village of Garbelletto in the Castigione Falletto zone of Barolo. Now Sordo is run by Giorgio Sordo, who took over from his late father Giovanni in 2001, and the wines were overseen by oenologist Armando Cordero, who has also passed, who helped raise the quality here and was a traditionalist in the making of winery’s classic Barolo wines. Sordo does eight bottlings of Barolo and estate has a total of 53 hectares under vines, spread over the townships of Castiglione Falletto, Serralunga d’Alba, Monforte d’Alba, Barolo, Novello, La Morra, Verduno, Grinzane Cavour, Vezza d’Alba and Volpeglino, all top sites for Nebbiolo. The lineup includes a Barolo normale that is blend of multiple crus and villages, plus efforts from the single cru vineyards of Rocche di Castiglione, Parussi, Villero, Monprivato, Gabutti, Monvigiero, Ravera and this Perno. The winemaking here is traditional with 100% Nebbiolo (Barolo) grapes that were all de-stemmed with a stainless steel temperature controled fermentation, with the submerged cap maceration lasting 4 to 7 weeks, and the juice was allowed to go through natural malo-lactic in tank. After that the Barolo was aged for 24 months in large Slavonian oak barrels, then put back in stainless vats for another 6 months and bottle for 6 months before release.
($40 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive