2020 Sordo, Barolo DOCG “Perno” Piemonte, Italy.
The gorgeous Tre Bicchieri winning 2020 Perno Cru Barolo from Sordo drinks like a Burgundy with a velvety tannic backbone, beautiful aromatics and deep layers of black cherry, damson plum, earthy red currant and mulberry fruits, along with mineral notes, truffle, cedar, minty herbs and salted black licorice. This elegant full bodied Barolo, which came from Perno Cru in the Monforte d’Alba zone which has, as the winery notes, chalky Tufaceous soils, it’s primarily made up of iron rich stones and detrital rock, along with sandy and clayey elements from the Langhian Stage of the Miocene Epoch, making it a unique terroir. This Perno saw a classic stainless steel fermentation using 100% Nebbiolo grapes that were all de-stemmed with temperature control with the submerged cap maceration lasting 4 to 7 weeks and 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. Everything looks to have been done right here, and the Perno delivers in the glass, while still youthful, it really is an elegant and rewarding wine already, I love the transparency and the excellent lingering finish.
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 San Francisco stop of Gambero Rosso’s Tre Bicchieri tour was where I got a chance to experience these Sordo wines and meet Sordo’s next generation, Paola Sordo, who was pouring her family’s latest Barolo efforts, and I was left very impressed by what I tried, especially this beautiful Perno bottling and I highly recommend searching it out.
($65 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive