Basarin Barbaresco DOCG 2023

The Basarin is one of five single-vineyard Barbareschi from Azienda Agricola Sottimano, bringing together fruit, structure, elegance and maturity in a particularly well-balanced Barbaresco. The 2023 is expansive and generous, yet remains precisely delineated: dark notes of tobacco and leather meet licorice and sandalwood, layered with dried rose and violet petals and a smoky trace. The oak spice stays subtle.

The Basarin vineyard lies in the commune of Neive at around 250 to 300 metres above sea level. The old vines face southwest on soils shaped by limestone and clay, with sandy elements in places. Rino Sottimano acquired the Cottà estate in the late 1960s and planted most of the vineyards himself during the 1970s and 80s; many vines are now fifty to sixty years old. Andrea, Elena and Claudia Sottimano now run the estate's nearly twenty hectares of Nebbiolo organically, without herbicides or synthetic fertilizers for over forty years.

Pure Nebbiolo, spontaneously fermented with wild yeasts from vineyard and cellar. Andrea Sottimano leaves the Nebbiolo on the skins for up to sixty days, and malolactic fermentation begins only once the cellar warms up naturally in spring. The wine then ages around 18 to 22 months in oak and is bottled unfiltered and unfined.

Powerful, with dense extract and a deep underlying tone, beautifully balanced. The fine-grained tannins are interwoven with ripe, luminous acidity, giving the wine a straight, focused direction. A long finish of bitter chocolate and cherry.

Grapes from the Basarin are occasionally declassified to Langhe Nebbiolo when the vintage requires it. Bottled by Az. Agr. Sottimano in Neive.