Barbaresco Faset Duesoli

Duesoli means two suns. The name belongs to one very steep plot in the Faset cru, facing south and south-west above the Tanaro. As the sun goes down towards the horizon it is reflected off the river, and that second light falls back on the rows. The family says it is what has always made this vineyard's wines so intense, and they have registered the name.

The plot sits at 250 to 270 metres on calcareous and clay marls with some sand. The Duesoli was the family's first Barbaresco, first made in 2017, so the 2018 is its second vintage. The grapes ferment for 15 to 20 days in temperature-controlled steel. The wine then spends about two years in neutral, lightly toasted French barriques and a few more months in bottle before release.

2018 was not an easy year in Barbaresco. Gaja's report for the area describes a very wet spring, with rain on 24 of the 45 days between early May and mid-June, and a hailstorm in mid-July that damaged several Barbaresco vineyards. After that the weather held, and September was sunny, fresh and windy.

Two suns, and one of them borrowed from the river.