Renato Ratti Barolo Marcenasco 2020

Cellar for up to 13 years. Decant 2 hours before serving. Renato Ratti began his career in the wine industry in Sao Paolo in Brazil where he emigrated after completing his enology degree in Alba. After making sparkling wines and vermouths for several years for Cinzano, he decided it was time to return home and purchased his first vineyard just below the Abbey of L’Annunziata in La Morra. He quickly became a trailblazer and advocate for the Barolo region, creating the first detailed map of Barolo’s historical crus in the 1970s and producing one of the first single vineyard Barolos in the 1960s. In 1988 Renato’s son, Pietro, took over the reins and has continued to modernise and innovative, adding a new gravity flow cellar in 2005 and expanding and restoring the family’s vineyards. The Ratti family’s Marcenasco Barolo is named after the sub-zone where the fruit is sourced which has been planted with Nebbiolo since at least the 12th century. The grapes are harvested at optimal ripeness in October and the young wine is aged in large oak casks for two years. This attentive vinification and extended maturation produces a refined Barolo which is richly-flavoured and full bodied yet balanced by a streak of bright freshness and enchanting smoky tobacco, licorice, and sweet spice notes.

Price: £44.05 from 8wines UK