2025 Bruna Grimaldi, Langhe Arneis DOC, Piemonte, Italy.
After a few years of writing about the incredible Barolo wines here at Bruna Grimaldi, I finally am getting around to mentioning just how great their Arneis white wine is, and this 2025 is a stunner with crystalline purity, steely mineral intensity, and bright acidity. This ultra pale, fresh and crisp Langhe Arneis lifts beautifully from the glass with a nice aromatic flourish, white blossoms, oyster shell, a hint ion star anise and racy citrus leading to a palate of zesty lemon/lime, white peach and green melon fruits, along with a touch of bitter almond, chalky stone and sea shore notes. Light, bone dry and wonderfully refreshing, but quite persistent and serious underneath, maybe we should call it a Barolo Bianco and a delicious terroir driven wine. Coming from vines, at the edge of their Barolo vineyards and set on a high concentration of white loam-rich, limestone and clay soils, the Grimaldi Arneis shows a fine structure and an added dimension of complexity. For the Arneis, the winery says the grapes are gently pressed, seeing a low temperature fermentation in order to enhance the fruity and floral aromas that are generated during this process. The wine does not undergo malolactic fermentation, keeping that vibrant edginess or energy, and then it is rested on the lees in tank for between 6 and 9 months, then bottled in early Spring. After a difficult vintage in 2024, it is great to see such a charmer from the new 2025 vintage and I am excited to see how the red wines did as well, from a winery that has become a favorite in recent years. While I recommend the Nebbiolo offerings here, I would also, as noted before, check out the whole quality varietal range here at Grimaldi.
The Grimaldi family, as mentioned before in my prior reviews, has been in the Barolo business since 1957, but the modern version of this property really got started as a producer of fine wine with Bruna Grimaldi in 1990 and this label has gained a solid reputation over the last two decades. Now, winemaker Franco Fiorino crafts these wines with a passion for transparency and precision. I’ve been joyously impressed by all the wines here at Grimaldi, from their awesome Cru Barolo to their quaffers, like the Barbera, Dolcetto and this tasty Arneis. I absolutely recommend not passing up the these Bruna Grimaldi offerings when you see them, especially the 2021 Barolos. These Grimaldi wines see all sustainably grown grapes, with organic farming now employed in all the vineyards the winery sources from, which has become very common in recent times to elevate the quality and purity of the wines, as seen here in the latest Barbera. Again as noted before, Bruna Grimaldi and her husband Franco Fiorino have turned the old school family business into an elite label, since bottling their first wine in 1999, and have only got better over that time. They have added significant vineyards and cru parcels to the collection and including a parcel in the coveted Bricco Ambrogio vineyard in Roddi, an exceptional, somewhat under the radar site. They now have ten hectares, which produces approximately 50,000 bottles a year, that all express the typical essence of the Langhe terroir, again, with Barolo, Dolcetto, Barbera and Nebbiolo d’Alba being the main focus, along with this exceptional Arneis. For the Arneis, I would definitely stock up on a few bottles for the rest of Summer and enjoy it over the next year or two, it works both as a aperitif and as a friendly food wine.
($32 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive