Barolo Serradenari 2020 comes from the Serradenari MGA in La Morra, the highest vineyard area in the entire Barolo zone. Forty-five days on the skins, thirty months in 25-hectolitre botti, bottled unfiltered.
Deep garnet with orange reflections at the rim. The nose is closed at first and opens slowly: dried rose and lavender, sour cherry in its juice, then balsamic notes, tar, liquorice and a clear chalky minerality. There is a coolness in the aroma you can almost feel. On the palate the wine is taut and vertical, with a tannic structure fine in grain yet fully present, and acidity that holds it bolt upright. The fruit is bright rather than ripe. The finish is very long, saline and faintly bitter with liquorice. Decant for two hours.
Giulia Negri is one of the most talked-about names of the new generation of Piedmontese winemakers. She took over the family estate of Serradenari at the age of twenty-four — a property that has been in the family for over a century and a half — and converted the vineyards to organic viticulture. With an uncompromising approach and a keen eye for terroir, she quickly established herself as one of the most respected young producers in the Langhe.
The Serradenari cru sits at the highest point of La Morra and thus of the entire Barolo zone; the estate reaches 536 metres. The parcel for this wine lies at roughly 480 to 520 metres, facing south-west, on Messinian soil of sandy composition with a strong presence of calcareous marl.
The grapes are picked by hand and ferment spontaneously in truncated-conical wooden vats of sixty hectolitres, with a maceration of around forty-five days. Some thirty months of ageing in large 25-hectolitre oak botti follow. The wine is bottled unfiltered.