Piero Busso Langhe Nebbiolo 2023
- Region
- Italy » Piedmont » Langhe DOC
- Type
- red still, dry
- Producer
- Vintage
- 2023
- Grapes
- Nebbiolo
- Alcohol
- 14
- Volume
- 750 mL
- Cellar
- not available
- Find at
The estate's entry wine sources from younger vines (10-25 years) on clay-sandy soils at 180-200 meters elevation in Neive. Fermentation occurs at 28-30°C with 25-30 days skin contact, shorter than single vineyards, using indigenous yeasts with pied de cuve starter. Unlike the crus, this wine sees frequent pump-overs rather than a submerged cap, ageing just 12 months in large neutral oak before bottling.
Ratings
Same wine as a few days ago blind, but today that greenness is screaming at me - hence the rating drop. The nose is all used tea leaves and green stems, with cherry and plum trying to push through. There's this slight sweetness that acts like a diplomatic mediator between your palate and those savage young tannins. Proper Langhe DNA, no question, and honestly quite tasty if you're into the whole tea-forward style of baby Nebbiolo. But fuck me, it's green. Like, properly astringent and tannic in that way that makes your mouth feel like leather. This needs years, not months. Right now it's all potential and punishment.
Tasted blind and went chasing ghosts - thought Culasso, missed completely. This is pure fruit diplomacy: super fruity but wrapped in flowers like an apology. Red blooms, field flowers, everything fresh and alive. The acidity plays light, tannins stay soft, nothing fights for attention. Medium everything - intensity, structure - but somehow it all just works. No drama, no philosophy, just straightforward pleasure. Easy delicious indeed.
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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