Piero Busso Barbaresco Gallina Viti Vecchie 2019
- Region
- Italy » Piedmont » Barbaresco DOCG
- Type
- red still, dry
- Producer
- Vintage
- 2019
- Grapes
- Nebbiolo
- Alcohol
- 14.5
- Volume
- 750 mL
- Cellar
- not available
- Find at
Selected from 65-70 year old vines planted in the early 1950s within the Gallina cru, this wine sees 60-65 days submerged cap maceration. While following extended ageing protocols similar to Riserva standards, this may not carry the official Riserva designation. First produced in 2015, it represents the estate's premium Gallina selection with an extra year of bottle ageing before release.
Ratings
Beautiful. It's like Curiosity Cola mixed with menthol, pine needles, and tarragon. The cherry here is properly sexy - aromatic and heady, flowers everywhere. But Christ, this is hard to drink. Charged like a Tesla coil, but it's just stupidly painful to swallow. Every sip feels like the wine's trying to suck out your soul. You can feel all that power, all that potential, but fuck me, I'm not a prophet - how am I supposed to know what this becomes in ten years? Probably transcendent, but today it's pure masochism. Beautiful masochism, sure, but still. This is wine that makes you question your life choices while simultaneously admiring its brilliance. Like being punched by someone gorgeous - you're impressed and in pain at the same time.
About Producer
The Piero Busso story begins with heartbreak. In 1948, Guido Busso hand-planted his first Nebbiolo vines in the Albesani cru of Neive, only to die from tetanus at age 32 before seeing his first harvest. His widow, Ada, maintained the vineyard for three decades, selling most fruit to neighbours while keeping the dream alive. When his son, Piero, abandoned his veterinary studies to return home in 1979, driven by an irresistible yearning for the Langhe, he bottled the estate's first commercial Barbaresco in 1982. Today, under third-generation leadership since 2010, the 10-hectare estate has transformed from local producer to what critics call "among the absolute finest Barbaresco has to offer," with holdings across four prestigious crus and vines ranging from 25 to 80 years old.
Pierguido Busso, who took over daily operations in 2010, follows a philosophy of radical terroir transparency. All Barbaresco crus receive identical vinification - same 40-45 day macerations with submerged cap, same indigenous yeast fermentation, same 2-3 years in 25-hectoliter Slavonian oak casks - deliberately eliminating winemaking variables to highlight each vineyard's unique character. The estate has been certified organic since 2019, though they've avoided synthetic herbicides since the 1970s. Harvest involves no more than eight experienced pickers using 15-18 kilogram baskets, with the same team returning for 10-15 years. Pierguido describes their approach as "80% viticulture, 20% cellar work," emphasising minimal intervention to preserve site expression.
Piero Busso represents a distinctive model for Barbaresco's evolution - maintaining traditional long macerations and large oak ageing while embracing organic certification and scientific precision. The estate's 50,000 annual bottle production across four crus allows unprecedented terroir comparison through identical winemaking, while old-vine selections from plantings dating to 1948 connect directly to the founder's original vision. Under Pierguido's "fastidious and exacting" management, sleepless nights over even minor cellar renovations reflect an obsession with preserving ambient yeasts and terroir integrity. This combination of historical continuity, technical rigour, and minimal intervention has elevated a family tragedy's legacy into what many consider Barbaresco's most exciting contemporary producer - proof that in wine, as in life, the most profound expressions often emerge from the deepest roots.
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