RReeaaddiinngg tthhee LLaabbeellss ooff EElliioo AAllttaarree The Fine Wine Geek www.finewinegeek.com © Ken Vastola 2011 wwwwww..ffiinneewwiinneeggeeeekk..ccoomm 1 Elio Altare TThhe offffiiciiall name ffor tthhe wiinery off EElliio AAllttare iis ““AAziiendda Agricola Cascina Nuova Elio Altare” (cid:131) “AAzziieennddaa AAggrriiccoollaa” mmeeaannss tthhaatt tthhiiss iiss aa wwiinneerryy tthhaatt ggrroowwss its own grapes. All its wines are estate-bottled. Elio Altare was one of the earliest leaders of the “modernist movement”” in Barolo. One of Altare’s innovations involved making a Nebbiolo wwiinnee ffrroomm aa BBaarroolloo vviinneeyyaarrdd wwhhiicchh sstteeppppeedd oouuttssiiddee tthhee legal bounds of what can be called “Barolo”. So Altare makes two wines using the vineyard name “Arborina”, one of which is a Barolo, one is not. This has been a source of some of the confusion which we hhooppee wwiillll bbee rreessoollvveedd iinn tthhiiss pprreesseennttaaiioonn. © Ken Vastola 2011 www.finewinegeek.com 2 Altare’s Basic Barolo Often referred to as “Altare Barolo La Morra” which is nott correctt. The Altare winery is in the ttoowwnn ooff LLaa MMoorrrraa,, bbuutt iinn Barolo there is no notion of a village designation (as in BBuurrgguunnddyy)). Also, this wine contains ggrappes from Castilggione Falletto as well as La Morra. It should be referred to as “AAllttaarree BBaarroolloo NNoorrmmaallee” oorr “Altare’s Base Barolo”. © Ken Vastola 2011 www.finewinegeek.com 3 Single-Vineyard Barolos: Cerretta The Cerretta vineyard is in the village of Serralunga. This is Altare’s newest Barolo bottling. IItt wwaass ffiirrsstt bboottttlleedd oonn iittss own in the 2005 vintage. Vineyard name: © Ken Vastola 2011 www.finewinegeek.com 4 Single-Vineyard Barolos: Brunate Altare’s parcel in the BBrruunnaattee vviinneeyyaarrdd iiss iinn tthhee village of La Morra. This was first bottled separately in the 1995 vintage. Vineyard name: IItt wwaass nnoott bboottttlleedd iinn 11999977 or in 2002. © Ken Vastola 2011 www.finewinegeek.com 5 Single-Vineyard Barolos: Arborina VViineyardd name: “Vigneto Arborina” refers tto tthhe AArbboriina viineyardd iin the village of La Morra. “Barolo” clearly indicates that this is a wine that ccoonnffoorrmmss ttoo tthhee standards for Barolo, including 2 years of ageiing bbeffore bbottttlliing. © Ken Vastola 2011 www.finewinegeek.com 6 Non-Barolo Arborina Nebbiolo Here, “Arborina” still refers to the Arborina vineyard in the village of La Morra. VViinneeyyaarrdd nnaammee:: “Langhe” and not “Barolo” indicates that this is a wine that does NNOOTT ccoonnffoorrmm ttoo tthhee standards for Barolo. © Ken Vastola 2011 www.finewinegeek.com 7 Non-Barolo Arborina Nebbiolo TThhe priimary reason tthhatt tthhiis wiine ddoes NNOOTT confform tto Barolo standards is that it is aged for 18 months and not the 2 yyears reqquired for Barolo. It is, however, aged in new French barriques for 18 months. From the first vintage in 1986 until 1998, this was called ““Vigna Arborina””: Now it is just “Arborina”: © Ken Vastola 2011 www.finewinegeek.com 8 Altare Langhe Nebbiolo Altare’s most basic Nebbiolo. © Ken Vastola 2011 www.finewinegeek.com 9 Dolcetto d’Alba 100% Dolcetto ggrapes from La Morra and Dogliani. Matured in stainless steel tanks for 10 months. © Ken Vastola 2011 www.finewinegeek.com 10