Piero Busso Barbaresco Albesani Riserva Viti Vecchie 2019
- Region
- Italy » Piedmont » Barbaresco DOCG
- Type
- red still, dry
- Producer
- Vintage
- 2019
- Grapes
- Nebbiolo
- Alcohol
- 14
- Volume
- 750 mL
- Cellar
- not available
- Find at
The estate's flagship comes from vines planted in 1948 surrounding the family home at 210-240 meters elevation. These 70-75-year-old vines on calcareous-clay-silt soils undergo extended 60-day submerged cap maceration - double the normal length. Ageing extends to three years in smaller 10-hectoliter casks rather than standard 25-hectoliter barrels, exceeding legal Riserva requirements of 50 months total ageing. Production represents "just a single barrel" in exceptional vintages.
Ratings
Delicate, perfumed nose that makes you lean in close. Blackberries and roses over earth, tea leaves and tobacco weaving through. Complex and beautiful, but fuck, this is embryonic. The acidity is savage, cutting through everything with chalky minerality, while those tannins are drier than academic prose. The whole thing's locked up tighter than a vault. There's this curious fennel-celery greenness that I can't decide if I love or just find intriguing. You can taste the old vines doing their thing - all that depth and complexity - but right now it's like watching a brilliant film through frosted glass. Fascinating to drink from vines this ancient, just wish they were more interested in conversation. This needs a decade to become what it's meant to be. Classic case of greatness in waiting.
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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