2021 Barbera d'Alba Aves

Pouring a bit more in the purple range of the spectrum and from a single tonneau, the 2021 Barbera D'Alba Aves (“aves” means birds in Latin) has more peppery spice, violets, and wet stone. It is medium-bodied but takes on more concentration and richness, with meaty black cherry, turned soil, and tea leaf notes. It also has fine tannins and a good finish. This will be an age-worthy wine for drinking over the next ten years. Based in Verduno, Fabio Burlotto leads the estate named after his great-great-grandfather. The holdings currently consist of 17 hectares in total, predominantly in Verduno, and a small portion outside of the commune with parcels in Cannubi (Valletta) in Barolo and most recently in Castelletto in Monforte d’Alba. In 2018, he produced his first vintage from 50-year-old vines at the higher part of their parcel in Castelletto, while the lower section was replanted and will see its first harvest this year. Although anything is possible, the vision at the moment is that this fruit will become a part of their Classic Barolo. Aclivi is a selection of the best part of each vineyard site, with the traditional blended style of Barolo in mind, and stands in as a substitute for a Riserva bottling. Usually, the grapes are destemmed for the Aclivi, while the Monvigliero is fermented with whole clusters. Historically, Fabio’s grandfather was fermenting all of his Barolo with whole clusters before 1967. When his father took over after he died in 1968, he began destemming the grapes until the 1982 vintage, when they moved back to utilizing whole clusters for the Monvigliero, which Fabio continues to this day. There is a great commitment and dedication to the other varietals of the region, with only half of the total production being Nebbiolo and the remaining half Dolcetto, Barbera, Freisa, Pelaverga, and Sauvignon Blanc. Fermentation for the Barolo occurs in 20-year-old open-top French oak containers, with some punching down, but generally a gentle approach. In the cellar, they utilize 30-year-old large French oak casks, and when barrels need to be replaced, only Barbera or Langhe Nebbiolo will go into the new barrels on occasion. The majority of the wines in this report were tasted at the winery with Fabio in March of 2023. The style is marked by lift and energy, with the majority offering an outstanding bouquet of aromatics. They tend to lean toward a Burgundian aesthetic in that they are highly expressive and offer fantastic mineral texture in a medium frame. The indigenous grapes are not to be missed and offer some of the best-hidden gems at an insane value when and if you can find them. Though the US is certainly a major market for wines, Fabio is uniquely committed to having a substantial proportion of his wines distributed in Italy, and I personally intend to have the great fortune to enjoy them while abroad.

The 2021 Barbera d'Alba Aves is a selection of the estate's best Barbera. A wine of gravitas and tension, the Aves is lights-out in 2021. There's plenty of the depth of past editions, but less overt concentration and oak imprint than in the past. In the last few years, Fabio Alessandria has dialed back some of the textural intensity in this wine in favor of greater freshness. The result is a striking Barbera that is also more in line with the rest of the wines in the range.