2021 Olek Bondonio, Langhe Nebbiolo DOC, Piemonte, Italy.
The dark ruby/garnet hued and brick edged 2021 Langhe Nebbiolo from Olek Bondonio, beautiful in purity and structure, is a baby Barbaresco like offering that excites the medium bodied and firm palate with black cherry, damson plum, bramble berry and blood orange fruit, along with earthy savory notes, a light sense of cedar, ball leaf, black licorice, crushed flowers, minty herbs and loamy stone. Olek Bondonio, now famous for his Barbaresco, was late getting into wine, despite his noted ancestry with 200 years of grape growing and highly-regarded vines, including his holding of Roncagliette cru parcels in Barbaresco, which is just down his driveway, immediately abutting Gaja’s famous Sorì Tildin! Olek only began his foray into wine in 2005 with the encouragement of his Polish mother, hence his first name, who told him if he was interested in making wine off the family vineyards, he should do it. Bondonio is not ego driven and relies on natural, minimum intervention winemaking, based in the family’s 200 year-old farmhouse called ‘La Berchialla,’ where keeps his botti wine barrels, once where cattle were kept. It’s noted that one of Olek’s ancestors of the farm La Berchialla, a General Guglielmo Como, was a key founder of the famous Produttori del Barbaresco. Influenced by limestone and Barbaresco’s elite terroir, this basic Langhe Nebbiolo offers big bang for the buck and should be on your radar.
Olek Bondonio’s estate, La Berchialla, as noted in my prior reviews, is located near to the Tre Stelle frazione of Barbaresco, and is planted to Nebbiolo, of course, along with small parcels of Grignolino, Pelaverga, as seen here, Dolcetto, and Barbera, which is another of Bondonio’s wines I highly recommend. The signature wine here is the Olek Bondonio La Berchialla Roncagliette Cru, Barbaresco DOCG, a wine a mystical allure and sensuality, no Nebbiolo fan should ever pass up a chance to experience it, trust me, especially in a good vintage! Also as noted, one of my favorite Barbaresco makers, Olek Bondonio, who has become a cult like figure here, has become one of the most sought after winemakers with Barbaresco and Nebbiolo enthusiasts and it is incredibly hard to get them, so I was thrilled to get ahold of a few bottles of this Langhe Nebbiolo. The wines here are typically fermented in large cement tanks with native yeasts and aged in large Botti, with Slavonian Gamba and Stockinger (Austrian oak) used. Everything at Bondonio is raw and transparent in style and every grape is organic and there’s only the very minimum use of sulfur, with the wines being vastly different to his legendary neighbor. While best known for the Barbarescos, like his Starderi and signature Roncagiette, Bondonio also does a set of Barbera, Dolcetto, a few other native rarities and Nebbiolo offerings, like this one, which is always a huge treat and can be enjoyed in its youth, as seen here, as well as aged.
($38 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive