Brezza Barolo Classico 2021
£38.75
The wine
An elegant yet racy Barolo with black cherry, plum and red berries layered with violet, rose, discreet hints of liquorice and an almost imperceptible touch of laurel. A lovely combination of freshness and ripeness, with fine tannins held in the background.
Barolo Classico is blended across the family's parcels rather than drawn from a single cru, in the older tradition of the appellation. Enzo Brezza works with long macerations in large Slavonian oak casks, which add structure rather than vanilla, and the wine is given the thirty-eight months of ageing the DOCG requires.
The producer
Brezza
View all Brezza winesTwelve and a half hectares of vines in the commune of Barolo, taking in parcels of Cannubi, Castellero and Sarmassa, with the two-hectare Santa Rosalia estate just outside the DOCG boundary and further plots at Monforte and Novello. The family have farmed organically since the 2015 vintage.
Brezza are traditionalists in a region that spent the 1990s arguing about it. The so-called Barolo Wars pitted modernists, who favoured short macerations, small French barrique and early approachability, against traditionalists working long macerations in large old Slavonian oak casks that add structure rather than flavour. Enzo Brezza belongs firmly to the second camp and intervenes as little as he can.
The family also run a hotel and restaurant in the village of Barolo, which they have done since 1885, and the winery has been making wine under its own label since 1910. Holding parcels in both Cannubi and Sarmassa, two of the finest crus in the commune, gives an unusually direct comparison between neighbouring hillsides.
