2020 Massolino Barbaresco Albesani (1500ml)

On the western hills above Neive, Albesani is one of the great vineyards of Barbaresco. In his “Barbaresco MGA”, Alessandro Masnaghetti writes that “the combination of soil, stature and exposure creates one of the greatest vineyards of the Langhe”. So perhaps it won’t be a surprise that, of the three Barbaresco parcels, Massolino has chosen to bottle its first single-vineyard wine from this site. As Franco Massolino explains: “From the very first moment this wine began to ferment, we knew we were dealing with a superb expression of Nebbiolo.” Of its two hectares in Albesani, Massolino used only 0.6 hectares for this bottling—the parcel at the top of the vineyard (at 260 metres) with the poorest soils and the oldest vines (50 years of age). The soils are classic limestone and chalky clay, and the exposure is southwest. The winemaking mirrors that of the Barbaresco above, except it was aged in a single, 3,000-litre Stockinger cask. It’s a stunning wine, so perfumed and pure. A Burgundy lover’s Barbaresco!