Winemaker Enrico Dellapiana is making focused, terroir-driven Barbaresco loaded with finesse. Bravo! KERIN O’KEEFE, The Wine Enthusiast

Cantine Rizzi is one of the most impressive estate's in Piemonte. Sitting atop a ridgeline on the road (via Rizzi) up to Treiso (one of Barbaresco's best sub-zones) the estate commands some of the most spectacular 360 degree views you will find anywhere. Since 1974 the Dellapiano family (led by Ernesto and now son Enrico) have been producing a variety of wines including Barbera, Dolcetto, Sparkling, Chardonnay and most importantly four single site and selection-based Barbarescos.

The crus start with 'Rizzi'; a vineyard which spills down and across the south-facing hill and a site which is responsible for the bulk production giving it's name to the quasi-entry-level Barbaresco of the estate. This vineyard runs east before it meets one of Treiso's most lauded sites, Nervo. From here the family farm a small sub-plot within the Nervo cru cru called Fondetta. True to it's origins in the heart of Treiso - a commune  Enrico refers to as the Serralunga of Barbaresco - Nervo Fondetta holds both great aromatic lift and purity of fruit and the palate showcases the mineral flecked fruit on a bed of very fine ripe tannins. The third of their single-sites is arguably the most important. It is Pajore; an historical vineyard on the border of Barbaresco and Treiso communes, the wine from here combines gorgeous depth of fruit and power with a more expressive and layered persona. The last of the estate's Barbaresco's is "Boito". This wine is a selection from a specific plot within the Rizzi cru which is notable for it's extra altitude and clay-based soils. It is aged longer and and released later than all the other wines and is the most powerful of the stable.

Generally though the style is for wines that are aromatically lifted and pure and have an almost tender elegance and lilting accessibility about them. In part this can be put down to the gentle extraction of tannins (no plunging of the cap here, only pump over). They are not without structure though and this aspect builds as you progress through the hierarchy from the open and feminine Rizzi through to the more deeply pitched Pajore, Nervo and Boito. 

The wines are made almost identically; Enrico favouring a 25 days maceration, fermentation is stainless steel and then maturation only in larger Slovenian oak. To me, they showcase the best aspects of traditionally made nebbiolo in that they are aromaticaly pure and clean without any overlay of French oak. They are not statuesque Gaja-styled Barbarescos, rather they are wines unashamedly of their place and the variety.

Click here to watch a short video of Michael at Cantina Rizzi with Enrico in 2015.