2020 Agricola Brandini La Morra, Barolo DOCG “R56” La Morra Estate, Piemonte, Italy.
Now firmly one of my favorite Barolo wines, Brandini’s estate R56 Barolo, is only getting better with each vintage and this beautifully aromatic, elegant and sultry 2020 is already rocking in the bottle and in the glass with pure Nebbiolo layering of black cherry, damson plum, briery raspberry and garden strawberry fruits, along with fine grained tannins, nice mineral notes and energetic acidity, as well as minty herbs, earthy licorice and seeped roses. This all is presented in a full bodied wine with an understated power and exceptional length, even in what is considered a hot vintage, this cru delivered a complex and utterly delicious Barolo that looks set for a long and rewarding life ahead, though no long term patience required. As mentioned before, the estate-owned vineyards that Agricole Brandini La Morra farm are all in the Barolo DOCG area, all organic with some biodynamic practices, and cover an area of just about 20 hectares now, in mainly in the municipality of La Morra, as well as newer plots in Serralunga and Monforte d’Alba, all prime spots. This wine comes from the Bagnasco’s own Brandini Cru (R56) that has great high elevation influence, giving their wines a prestigious calcareous terroir backbone. It was great to meet up with winemaker Giovanna Bagnasco and taste through her wines again, with a focus on her Barolo offerings, which all were stunning efforts from a range of vintages and crus, especially this one. Gio has introduced about 50% whole cluster this R56 Barolo, with the whole bunch ferment, with stems, is kept separate durning the primary fermentation and maceration, that is done in temperature controlled stainless steel vats. The two lots are blended post alcoholic fermentation and then the wine is matured for about 24 months in Slovonian oak, after which the wine is then cellared in bottle the required amount of time before release. Thanks to Giovanna of Brandini, Michael Marcy of Cultura Comida y Bedida Restaurant in Carmel-by-Sea and The Source imports for the invite!
The Agricola Brandini La Morra Estate, as noted in my prior review, is owned by Piero Bagnasco and run by his daughters, Giovanna and Serena, it is a new producer for me and in fact they are a pretty recent venture, just starting back in 2007, they have a tiny collection of prime Barolo vines and I found the wines to be beautifully made and very exciting. I first tasted Brandini’s wines in 2022, It was then that, as noted, when I first met Giovanna at the Slow Wine tasting event in San Francisco and I have been following the wines ever since. Brandini does a number of other wines from made from Barbera, Arneis, Dolcetto, one of my go to bottles, and even a gorgeous Champagne style Alta Langa Methodo Classico Brut sparkling wine, which I finally got a chance to try. Durning my latest winemaker tasting with Giovanna, she told of her journey and growth as a winemaker, which included many visits to Burgundy and Champagne, where she became convinced that with climate change and in the search for elegance in Nebbiolo, that whole cluster was part of the solution, along with a re-think on farming in Piemonte’s historic Barolo zone. Gil said that instead of going full out for concentration and ripeness, there needs to be a more nuanced approach and canopy management is very key in warm years to give the grapes the best conditions to achieve the balance and heath that she believes are key to great wine. Her latest efforts show this finesse and purity she’s looking for and these are very exciting wines that see mostly neutral format large 20HL Slovanian botte, to promote transparency. She also said that she prefers to get he wines out of cask early to preserve freshness and aromatics, which you can clearly see in her 2019 and 2020 Barolo releases. The two vintages available, 2019 and 2020, including Gio’s Annunziata 2020, the Cerretta, and the estate R56, are highly recommended, with the 19s maybe a touch firmer and the 20s a bit more open in nature, don’t miss a chance try these.
($108 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive