Luigi Giordano "Brut Nature" Metodo Classico Rosé, Piedmont, Italy 2022

FROM THE PIEDMONT GUY:

THE WINE: 100% Nebbiolo. Freshly-picked grapes in crates are stored in a refrigerated room close to freezing and at 80% humidity for about 10 days. This provokes a gentle maceration within the grapes in which color and aromas are partially transferred from the skins to the pulp, thus better preserving them for when the grapes will be pressed. Gentle pressing follows without any contact with the skins to avoid the extraction of tannins that could negatively impact the secondary fermentation in bottle. After primary fermentation, the wine remains in stainless-steel tanks until botting.

THE PRODUCER: A stone’s throw from the village center of Barbaresco, the winery was established by Giovanni Giordano in the 1930s during a time of profound crisis in the Italian wine world. After a period of growing and selling grapes, Giovanni’s son, Luigi, made the bold decision to vinify his own fruit, bottling the first wine under his own label in 1958. For an independent grower like Luigi to bottle his own wine at a time when plans to establish an official appellation in Barbaresco were only in their infancy was nearly unthinkable. Today’s winery remains a spirited family effort, driven by the shared vision of Luigi himself, his daughter Laura, and his grandson Matteo. Together, they produce timeless wines from vineyards planted in some of Barbaresco’s most prestigious crus, including Asili and Montestefano. Another Barbaresco bottling from the cru of Cavanna showcases the winery’s elegant, hands-off style of winemaking and represents the only single-vineyard bottling of its kind.