Guido Porro "Vigna Santa Caterina" Barbera d'Alba, Piedmont, Italy 2022

FROM KERMIT LYNCH

THE WINE: Porro’s Barbera straddles the line between an everyday pizza wine and a more substantial red that expresses nuance and can even improve with age. For a Wednesday night pasta dinner, it checks all the boxes: ripe berry fruit with cleansing acidity; richness contrasted by vivaciousness. However, if you have a cellar, don’t hesitate to lay down a few bottles: in a balanced vintage, this wine has serious potential. The 2003, for example, still drinks superbly. After all, these Barbera vines sit in a privileged Barolo site, so there is no shortage of pedigree.

THE PRODUCER: Reviews and notes on Guido Porro regularly refer to him as “under the radar”: the wines he makes are worthy of a stellar reputation, but he is too easygoing and unassuming to worry about whether the general wine-drinking public recognizes his name. Guido is the fourth generation at an estate that has always been passed from father to son, and now fifth-generation Fabio is starting to lend a hand in the family business. The Porros continue to work just as their predecessors did—the only major change over the last few decades has been the decision to bottle at the estate instead of selling the wine in demijohns or barrels—and they like to keep things simple and down to earth. The Porros are gracious hosts, and Guido’s wife Giovanna is known for her stellar renditions of classic Piemontese dishes, which shine when paired with the family’s wines.

The limestone-heavy soils of Serralunga d’Alba are known for providing the most long-lived and full-bodied Barolos. The cantina overlooks Porro’s vineyards in the Lazzarito cru, a gorgeous amphitheater that faces south-southwest and offers the grapes full sun exposure and protection from the wind. The sub-zones of Lazzairasco and Santa Caterina share the same soil but differ in exposure and altitude, resulting in two very different Baroli—the former regal and structured, the latter more floral and elegant. Even Porro’s Dolcetto and Barbera, grapes usually planted in lesser vineyards, enjoy a privileged place in Lazzarito. Guido expanded the family’s holdings in 2007, acquiring land in the nearby cru Gianetto, where the sandier soil yields a more immediate, open-knit Barolo. He then inherited a small slice of Serralunga’s fabled cru Vigna Rionda in late 2010. After replanting the vines, which were in poor state, he welcomed his first harvest in 2014, adding an undisputed grand cru to his already impressive stable of wines. Guido sticks to traditional methods in the vineyards and cellar, and he never gets in the way of the grapes’ natural expression.