Cottá, Barbaresco DOCG 2021

A Barbaresco that holds elegance, tannin and minerality together from the very first sip. The cherry red shows pale highlights and rust-colored accents, while the aromatics run on two tracks: red fruit on one side, earthy, balsamic spice on the other. With time in the glass, a chalky note steps forward.

The grapes come from the Cottà vineyard in Neive, where Rino Sottimano acquired the estate in the late 1960s and planted most of the estate's parcels himself during the 1970s and 80s. Today Andrea, Elena and Claudia run the estate's roughly twenty hectares. Cottà has been farmed organically since the 1970s, without herbicides or synthetic fertilizers; the grass between the rows is mowed two to three times a year, and every other row is ploughed in autumn. Yield is 15 hectoliters per hectare.

Pure Nebbiolo. The destemmed berries remain on the skins for up to 60 days, fermented spontaneously with wild yeasts from the vineyard and cellar, with the cap punched down regularly in open stainless-steel fermenters. Malolactic fermentation begins once the cellar warms up naturally in spring. Since 2020, the wine has been aged for around 24 months in large, slightly tapered botti, then bottled without filtration or fining. 14.0% ABV, dry.

The fruit feels warm and velvety, with rosehip, rooibos and wild strawberry leading the way. Then the tannin takes hold, subtly lining the palate, with hazelnut and walnut clinging to it alongside well-judged bitter notes. The wine repeatedly feels cooling, its mineral character shining through, with spice lingering on the finish.

Rosy roasted saddle of venison under an herb crust with savoy cabbage, braised oxtail on pearl spelt with red wine onions, or, for a vegetarian option, ravioli with mushrooms, white tomato foam and roasted hazelnuts.

Andrea Sottimano waits where other winemakers move faster: up to sixty days of maceration on the skins, a malolactic fermentation that can stretch into autumn, no filtration, no fining. Cottà is one of the estate's five single vineyards alongside Currà, Fausoni, Pajorè and Basarin.