Vietti Barolo Ravera 2020
£185.25
The wine
Ravera sits high above Novello, cool and late-ripening, and gives a Barolo that combines drive with precision. An intense and energetic wine showing finesse yet power, with complex floral, fruity, mineral and spicy notes underpinned by firm, compact tannins through to a refined and everlasting finish.
Ravera is one of the highest vineyards in the appellation, reaching around 400 metres on the western edge of the zone. Altitude means a longer, slower ripening season and a wider swing between day and night temperatures, which preserves acidity and aromatic detail. In an era of warming vintages it has become one of the most sought-after sites in Barolo, and the wines have a tension and lift that set them apart from the warmer valley floors.
The producer
Vietti
View all Vietti winesVietti is one of the defining names of Piedmont, based in the village of Castiglione Falletto at the heart of Barolo. The family have grown grapes here since the nineteenth century, but the estate as we know it was shaped by Alfredo Currado, who married Luciana Vietti in 1957 and spent the next four decades changing what Piedmont thought possible.
Two things made his name. In 1961 he bottled Barolo from the Rocche di Castiglione vineyard on its own, one of the first single-cru Barolos ever released, at a time when almost everything was blended across the commune. The idea that individual sites deserved their own bottling is now orthodoxy; then it was heresy. He also rescued Arneis, the white grape of the Roero, which had fallen to a handful of rows and was days from disappearing altogether.
The range here runs from Roero Arneis and Timorasso through Barbera and Langhe Nebbiolo to seven Barolo crus and a Barbaresco, each farmed and vinified separately. Vietti labels have carried commissioned artwork since 1974, which is why no two look quite alike.
