Region: Gattinara - Piedmont, ITA

Variety: Nebbiolo

Farming: Sustainable

Effectively the ‘Classico’, this is comprised of four key plots, Casacce, Garavoglie, Molsino and Valferana. The wine is fermented and macerated in steel at controlled temperatures for 25–30 days, followed by 30 months in large Stockinger Austrian botti. 

The 2017 Gattinara is terrific. It will also give readers something to drink without waiting decades. In 2017, the Gattinara is a bit richer than it often is – the result of the warm dry year – but its profile is super-classic. Sweet pipe tobacco, mint, dried herbs, liquorice, dried cherry and Alpine herbs fill out its ample frame effortlessly. I would give the 2017 a few years in bottle, but it won’t need more than that to start drinking well. In 2017, Roberto Conterno did not bottle his vineyard-designates. Instead, all the best lots went into the straight Gattinara, an overachieving wine that delivers the goods. I don’t expect the 2017 will be among the most long-lived wines here, but that will hardly be an issue for most readers. - Notes from Antonio Galloni, vinous.com