2020 Cordero di Montezemolo, Langhe, Arneis (RT 90) In today’s world of climate change (read global warming) an increasing number of Arneis show exotic, tropical fruit, but here is another vintage of classically cut Arneis revealing the edginess that makes this a great food wine. The pale straw hued 2020 Arneis shows notes of lemon peel, honey suckle, green apple and a smattering of salinity. On the palate it delivers light, fresh fruit with energy filled, fresh acidity and a clean finish. Drink now-2024l
2020 Cordero di Montezemolo, Barbera d’Alba (RT90+) This wine is young and either in need of a year-plus in the bottle to come together, or a generous decant prior to serving. Showing dark cherry, plum, mocha and a smattering of green tobacco, it delivers soft fruit, gentle acidity, and soft tannins. An excellent food wine that pairs beautifully with pizza and pastas with red sauce, and grilled meats. Followed over two days, it showed well consistently. Drink 2022-2025+
2017 Cordero di Montezemolo, Barbera d’Alba Superiore, Funtani (RT93) 50-year-old Barbera vines aged in a combination of new and neutral barriques for one year followed by a year in bottle. Total production is around 10,000 bottles. This charismatic Barbera is loaded with delicious ripe fruit showing notes of blackberry liqueur, mentholated balsam, saddle leather and a punctuation mark of minerality. With time in the glass anise and spice begin to emerge. The palate is layered with ripe fruit, succulent, pronounced acidity and soft, supple tannins. This is a wonderful Barbera from a great historical producer that frankly doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Funtani completely rocks in 2017. This was followed for 3 days and performed well the entire time. A very complete and elegant Barbera. Drink now-2030+
2017 Cordero di Montezemolo, Barolo, Monfalletto (RT93+) An intriguing bouquet from the 2017 Monfalletto reveals ripe red cherry, raspberry liqueur, fresh red plum, and hints of herbs and a note of anise. Its medium density palate delivers supple, generous fruit, uplifting acidity, and sweet, ripe tannins. A noble effort for a large production wine with 40,000 plus bottles produced, this is crafted from estate fruit grown in the Monfalletto Cru of La Morra. Aged for 20 months in a combination of Slavonian botti and French barrique with about 20% new, I’ve long admired Cordero’s progressive wine making style and artful results. This and the other two 2017 Barolos were followed for 5 days and all held up very well, suggesting they have decent cellaring potential. Very well done! Drink 2013-2037+
2017 Cordero di Montezemolo, Barolo, Gattera (RT94) The rich, lush expression of terroir of this fabled La Morra cru shines through with notes of deep, dark black cherry, balsam, fresh rose petal and spice. This is full figured on the palate with lush, ripe fruit, soft round acidity, sweet suave tannins. A fine showing for this legendary Cru, it delivers an abundance of mouth-watering juicy fruit. Crafted from estate fruit from the Gattera vineyard in La Morra, this is a small production bottling with just over 5,000 bottles produced annually. It’s aged aged for 19-21 months in a combination of botti and barrique, about 20% new. Drink 2024-2039+
2017 Cordero di Montezemolo, Barolo, Enrico VI (RT96) Cordero hit a grand slam with this bottling in 2017, notably outperforming expectations given the relatively challenging vintage. Enrico VI comes from a plot in the Villero Cru that’s been owned by the family for many generations. This legendary plot has been the top performer for the producer since they first launched their inaugural vintage from it, and once again the wine kicks ass! Showing expressive minerality and mentholated sour cherry, sappy balsam, rose hips, lavender, and pomegranate. Multidimensional and evolving in the glass, the mouthfeel is equally captivating with stunning balance from its layers of ripe fruit, fresh acidity, and perfectly ripe tannin. I followed this wine for five days and it kept showing better and better each day. This is a serious overachievement for the vintage, hats to the Team at Codero di Montezemolo! Drink 2027-2042+