2021 Lapo Berti Langhe Nebbiolo, Piedmont, Italy

The 100% Nebbiolo fruit comes from Fossati, a single, eastern facing MGA (cru) vineyard on the western side of La Morra which has a deserved reputation for long-lived wines with finesse and weight. The marly soils are composed of 25% sand and 39% clay, and iron levels are high. The grapes are farmed organically, yields are low, vines are 20-60 years old, and the elevation is 513 meters.

The fruit was picked by hand in mid October, destemmed and crushed. The fermentation was spontaneous and relied on indigenous yeasts, taking place in stainless steel tanks without temperature control. The wine remained on the skins for just over three weeks and the cap was punched down 1-4 times per day during the middle of fermentation. The wine was pressed off the skins and transferred to used
barrels (225 and 500L, 5-11 y.o) for 18 months for malolactic conversion and aging. The reason behind 18 months elevage, quite long for a Langhe Nebbiolo, is that Lapo finds it more captivating when Nebbiolo has already lost some of the fruit characters and is starting to show a little tertiary character; the spicy and savory aromas that come with aging. On top of that he gets a more refined wine that goes into bottles
without stabilization, fining, or filtration. After aging the wine was assembled and bottled at the waning moon in July 2023 under natural single-piece corks. The wines were made without the use of selected yeasts, malolactic bacteria, copper sulfate, fructose, tannins, acids, fining agents or filtration and the sulphites were kept to a minimum. 2021 Langhe Nebbiolo.