Sottimano
Azienda Agricola Sottimano in Neive farms nearly twenty hectares of Nebbiolo in Piedmont, spread across five single vineyards in Neive and Treiso. Rino Sottimano acquired the Cottà farmstead in the late 1960s and planted most of these vineyards himself during the 1970s and 80s; today Andrea, Elena and Claudia Sottimano run the winery. The vines have been farmed organically for over forty years. In the cellar, every wine ferments spontaneously, spends a long time on its skins, and is bottled unfined and unfiltered. The five Barbarescos carry the names of their vineyards: Cottà, Currà, Fausoni, Pajoré and Basarin.
Rino Sottimano and the Cottà farmstead
In the late 1960s, Rino Sottimano acquired the Cottà farmstead, a vineyard in Neive on the border with the municipality of Barbaresco. Over the following two decades he planted most of the vineyards the estate farms today himself; many of these vines are now fifty to sixty years old.
As early as the 1970s he was already working without herbicides or synthetic fertilizers. "I've always firmly believed that working hard in the vineyard is the way to make great wines," says Rino Sottimano. The grass between the rows is mown two to three times a year, and every other row is ploughed in autumn.
Five vineyards in Neive and Treiso
Four of the five Barbaresco vineyards lie in Neive. Cottà, where the estate is based, faces southwest and sits on clay-limestone soils with some sand; the wine from there combines fullness and structure with fruit that spans red and black berries. Fausoni grows on rather lean, calcareous soils and yields the most floral and open of the five. Basarin lies at 250 to 300 metres on limestone and clay, partly with sand, bringing together fruit, structure and ripeness; when the vintage calls for it, its grapes go into the Langhe Nebbiolo. Currà carries vines fifty-five to seventy years old and delivers extraction and longevity.
The fifth vineyard, Pajoré, lies in Treiso at around 400 metres, also facing southwest, on calcareous marl and clay. The old vines there give low yields. The bunches stay small and concentrated. Added to this is the Langhe Nebbiolo from the higher-lying plots, hand-harvested and sorted a second time on arrival at the cellar.
Spontaneous fermentation and long maceration
Andrea Sottimano lets every wine ferment spontaneously, with yeasts from the vineyard and the cellar. The Nebbiolo then spends a long time on its skins, up to sixty days for some wines, with the cap of skins at times submerged. Malolactic fermentation begins when the cellar warms up naturally in spring, and occasionally runs on into autumn.
Ageing for the Barbarescos from Neive lasts around eighteen to twenty-two months, partly in new French barriques for the Cottà, while the Pajoré spends twenty to twenty-four months with malolactic in barrel. The Currà matures for twenty-four to thirty months in used Burgundian pièces, with fifteen percent new oak. The Langhe Nebbiolo goes into barriques and larger vessels. Bottling is done unfined and unfiltered, so the differences between the five hills remain intact right into the glass.