Domenico Clerico was the first visit of our Barolo Day. In 1976 Domenico made his first vintage, having come home to work in the family vineyards (which previously had sold Dolcetto and Barbera grapes to the local co-op). According to Robert Parker, he became “one of the most gifted” of the “Barolo Boys”, pioneering new vineyard and winery practices that put Barolo among the top wines of the world. Our visit confirmed it remains a top Barolo producer.
At the beautiful winery with its curved sedum roof and views across the southern areas of Barolo we met a member of the newest generation, Cecilia, who explained the story of her family as we walked through the winery. The landscape we were looking at did not look like this in 1976 – fewer vineyards, more fruit trees and olive groves. Domenico’s relentless experimentation with vine growing and winemaking has been continued by his wife Giuliana, who has run the winery since his death in 2017. We saw concrete eggs and amphorae as well as the French oak barriques and Slavonian botti. They have bought more vineyards and make a variety of Barolos under the newly designated MeGAs around Monforte d’Alba, including Ginestra, Barolo and Bricca.
We tasted a lovely range of wines starting with a Dolcetto and a Barbera, comparing a Barolo from the Monforte d’Alba commune with a Ginestra MeGA, both from the 2019 ‘vintage of the century’. Barolos from the 2017 and 2014 vintages completed our introduction to this glorious wine, and any of us who were not already in love with it certainly were by the end of the tasting.
Lunch was taken at the Tota Virginia restaurant in Baudana, slightly smaller than Day One’s but absolutely delicious – a celeriac and saffron egg dish to start, fungi and pesto risotto, ox cheeks (or salmon), and a duo of pannacotta and chocolate hazelnut mousse to finish. Not only did we enjoy delicious wines with the meal: and Arneis, a Barbera, a Barolo and a Moscato d’Asti, but we also basked in the fabulous views.
Back on the coach we headed north to La Morra for our visit to Corino, another innovative family run winery. Stefania, who with husband Giuliano and children Veronica and Andrea run the business, was our host and was brilliant. She talked to us in the vineyard about the trials and tribulations of growing grapes in this beautiful place – including watching approaching hail clouds dump their load on the Roero hills (and luckily head elsewhere).
They grow 9ha of grapes, mostly Nebbiolo, and are both buying more land and building a new winery, so they are clearly doing things right. When they started out Super Tuscans were all the rage, so they planted Cabernet and Merlot, but they are replanting these vineyards with Nebbiolo.
We learnt about green harvesting, removing bunches early in the season to encourage greater concentration in the remaining grapes. And we watched Giuliano tipping newly harvested grapes into the destemmer/crusher from which they were pumped into a vat to commence fermentation.
In the tasting room we had a wonderful tasting of nine wines, including a barrel aged Barbera, three MeGA Barolos and finishing with a Reserve Barolo. Stefania was so good at answering our questions, and the wines were lovely and superb value. It was a fantastic afternoon.
It was a short drive back to Alba, where we could look forward to another evening of strolling, shopping, drinking and even eating!