Cottá Barbaresco DOCG 2023

Transparent ruby red. The nose is powerful and meaty: first hollyhock and meat extract, then rich fruit with amarena cherry, rosehip and pomegranate, alongside tobacco, iodine, a touch of smoke and an ethereal note reminiscent of sandalwood. A wine that calls for large glasses.

Cottá lies in Neive on the border with the commune of Barbaresco and is Sottimano's historic core vineyard; it is also where the estate is based. The southwest exposure and the limestone-clay soils with sandy components give the Nebbiolo fullness, structure and its distinctive tannic backbone. Rino Sottimano acquired the estate in the late 1960s and planted most of the vineyards during the 1970s and 80s; many vines are now fifty to sixty years old. Andrea, Elena and Claudia Sottimano now run the roughly twenty hectares.

Pure Nebbiolo, hand-harvested and spontaneously fermented, with extended maceration and a submerged cap; in the cellar the Nebbiolo stays on the skins for up to sixty days. Malolactic fermentation only begins once the cellar naturally warms in spring. The wine then ages for around 18 to 22 months in barrel, partly in new French barriques, and is bottled unfiltered. 14.0% ABV, dry.

Silky entry, juicy and extract-rich, with finely chiselled acidity spreading broadly across the palate. The tannic structure is tightly knit, the texture velvety, the overtone aromatic and austere. Plenty of power paired with transparent aromatics: a young wine that needs a few years of bottle ageing. Decanting is essential.

For over forty years the family has worked without herbicides or synthetic fertilisers. The grass between the rows is mown two to three times a year, and every second row is ploughed in autumn. In the cellar, wild yeasts from the vineyard and cellar drive fermentation, with no fining or filtration. Cottá is one of five single vineyards from which Sottimano produces its Barbaresco.