Barolo

Burlotto's page for this wine opens with Adolf Loos: ornament is a crime. Comm. G.B. Burlotto calls this Barolo its classic, and makes it the old way, by assembling several vineyards rather than bottling one.

The house lists four parcels, all in Verduno, the northernmost commune of the Barolo zone. Breri faces south and reaches 240 metres. Neirane faces west, and Rocche Olmo and Boscatto face east, all three at 370 metres.

The grapes are picked by hand into 20 kg boxes, destemmed and moved by gravity into open French oak vats, with gentle pump-overs and punch-downs every day. The wine then ages in large oak casks for 20 to 33 months, depending on the vintage. After bottling it rests at least nine months in the cellar before release.

For context on the year, Pio Cesare's report on 2022 describes a mild, dry winter, low water reserves in the soil and flowering about ten days early, followed by a hot summer with storms. In its own Barolo vineyards it picked Nebbiolo from 25 September in Serralunga to 5 October in La Morra.

By its own account, Burlotto was founded in 1850, supplied the royal household, and in 1899 was the sole supplier of the Duke of the Abruzzi's North Pole expedition with the Stella Polare.

A classic, in the Loos sense.