Dateline, mid-August, 2025: In great need of a place to heal and recover, I considered my options. Given that the harvest was about to kick off any day, and the impending truffle fair some months hence, I chose to base out of Roero instead of Langhe valley. Roero was much more my desired speed vs the hustle bustle of valley roads getting more full by the day. The absolute bonus was that by the end of the trip I realized I hadn’t sacrificed anything in terms of product quality and the experience as a whole; the Roero was up to the challenge.

You know you want to visit, what are you waiting for?

Throughout the next weeks, I’ll post some of the more memorable wines tasted during this lengthy stay; many were completely new to me, and now I cheerfully have several more soon-to-be-adopted (i.e. cellared) wines in the queue; not all are from Italia. I had decided to have fewer self-imposed rules this trip; and for the first time in this blog, I decided that extended to wine writing, too. Additionally, I had several opportunities to speak, sometimes at length, about recent and current vintages with highly respected winemakers from Monforte d’Alba to Asti.

If you know one or both of the brilliant and beautiful artists behind these wines, then congratulations, you’re seriously living and seriously winning.

2021 Azienda Agricola Moretti – Podere Casaccia Aliter Toscana IGT — The three grape varieties are harvested and vinified together. Pre-fermentation maceration is carried out for approximately 48 hours, followed by a punching down and pumping over every 6 hours for approximately 20 days until fermentation is complete. This is followed by post-fermentation maceration for a few days, and finally, batonnage sur lies for approximately 6 months; aged 10Hl French oak barrels are used prior to bottling. The soil is a mixture of clay, sand and silt; winegrowing is Biodynamic with no added sulfites. The wines have great integrity of structure.

A blend of older and younger vines, this is an admixture of old-clone Sangiovese, Cannaiolo and Malvasia Nera. A fun and interesting blend, this reveals a dark ruby core with no sign of age, it’s bright and clear. The nose offers fresh, engaging aromas of black cherry, wild blackberry, forest, soil, spice and vivid red and purple flower notes. The body is med+, the acids are very fresh offering perfect lift; tannins are fine and lightly sweet. This is such a great food wine, I always look forward to opening these. Ideally, I’ll have some wild assortment of antipasti, some savory bites and crunchy veggies. But if it’s a robust and savory/spicy dish, well, this will hold its own just fine. Great length and sapidity; 13,0% abv., it should be enjoyed now thru 2031 with just a few minutes of aeration in decanter. Highly recommended.

2018 Comm. G.B. Burlotto Barolo Cannubi — My first of six, this has been resting in Piemonte since release. It did not come as a surprise that, in this vintage, the wine was on point as soon as the cork was removed. It did add some weight and offered more complexity (into day two as well) as we continued our research – ok, just a casual dinner at a winemaker’s house in the Roero, but research sounds, more, erm, polished.

From the start and bright, med>med+ ruby core that’s clear and bright. It takes little/no swirling for the vivid red fruit and soil aromas to emerge; instantly we all know it’s special and we’re in for a treat (others hadn’t seen the label, so it was nice to see their genuine reactions). The palate is med+ in body, with a somewhat more open-knit build than I usually find in Fabio’s wines. That worked out perfectly as this was a last minute offering (I was still cooking as others began to arrive and I hadn’t picked out what to share yet) and while it did improve with air, the increments were small as this began from a fairly lofty place to begin with. Good>very good length, wonderfully sapid and artfully focused. For my palate, to be enjoyed now thru 2033. Highly recommended.

2022 Giorgio Meletti Cavallari Bolgheri Bianco – When I stopped by the cantina (a rather sprawling place with (beach) sand road, it was later in the day and only Giorgio was there, so time was slim as he was wearing many hats in that moment. That said, these had just been bottled some weeks before and I had every intention of tasting in the next days. It wasn’t to be. In fact, it was ~ two years later that I was able to taste and boy am I glad it turned out this way because the extra time has flattered this wine even more.
The color is bright, clear and medium straw in color. The nose is (as expected, it’s not too far away) is an enchanting mixture of mineral and viognier perfumes (this is an equal blend of that grape and Vermentino), there’s some white/yellow floral accents with a dash of orchard and citrus fruits here and there. It’s medium-bodied, well lifted and very fresh. From the first sip this exudes elegance and keen balance; each sip serves to solicit the next. It finishes med+ with lingering sapdity. A lovely wine and one that I will actively seek out. 13,0% abv., drink thru 2029. Highly recommended.

2022 Reis Timorasso – not only a tremendous value proposition, but absolutely fun and tasty each step of the way; a greatly anticipated release with each passing year.