Tenuta Mazzolino Mazzolino Bonarda 2022
£15.25
The wine
The most typical of all the Oltrepò reds, with deep colour, dark plum and earthy flavours.
Bonarda here is Croatina, confusingly, rather than the Bonarda of Piedmont or the Douce Noire that Argentina calls by the name. It gives a dark, softly frothy red that is the everyday wine of Lombardy, often bottled with a slight fizz. The Oltrepò Pavese lies south of the Po in Lombardy and is the largest source of Pinot Nero in Italy, most of it disappearing anonymously into sparkling wine made elsewhere. Tenuta Mazzolino works 36 separate parcels in the Oltrepò Pavese, divided by soil and aspect.
The producer
Tenuta Mazzolino
View all Tenuta Mazzolino winesTenuta Mazzolino sits in the gentle hills of Oltrepò Pavese in Lombardy, an estate that has long looked to France for inspiration. Under the Braggiotti family and with French winemaking counsel, it has built a reputation for Pinot Nero and Chardonnay of rare finesse in northern Italy.
The vineyards enjoy a favourable amphitheatre of slopes and calcareous clay, conditions that suit these Burgundian grapes beautifully. Yields are kept low and the touch in the cellar is measured, chasing elegance over weight.
The Blanc de Blancs sparkling and the Camarà Chardonnay show the estate's precise, mineral white style, while the Terrazze Pinot Nero is a supple, perfumed red of real charm. The Bonarda offers a juicier, characterful expression of the region's local grape.
Refined and quietly cosmopolitan, Mazzolino makes wines that reward the attentive drinker. Discover one of Lombardy's most graceful estates.
