Posted By Joel on January 10, 2010

Fontanafredda Barolo Lazzarito vigna La Delizia 2000, DOCG

You sometimes hear of Barolo’s haunting, ethereal character. Appropriate. The historical spirit of Barolo seems filled with ghosts and memories:

Of fathers and mothers grown old working the vineyards, and
times when you had to walk to get anywhere;
Wheat and maize planted between vine rows,
hail storms that destroyed the bunches.
Of youth spent working:
vineyards by day, hunting truffles by night.
Hand-washing the bottles, and
big families helping each other.
Poverty.
Wines that could out live you and tasted like where you stood. 1

Fontanafredda Barolo Lazzarito vigna La Delizia is produced in an area of Italy’s Piedmont where the spirit of tradition and terroir is more than just apparition.

The cellars and estate of Fontanafredda were established during the late 1870’s by Emmanuel Guerrieri, Count of Mirafiori, who was apparently blessed with the passion, vision and means to produce quality wines. Drawing on over 125 years of experience, the Tenementi Fontanafredda brand expresses a “…vast heritage in terms of values, experience and style built up by Fontanafredda…”2; and was “…created to meet the expectations of lovers of wines with a strong personality: authentic expressions of a wine-growing culture with a long-standing tradition…”3

Made from 100% nebbiolo grapes from the La Delizia plot, Fontanafredda’s Barolo Lazzarito vigna La Delizia hails from an area of the Barolo zone nearby the village of Serralunga d’Alba, a locale known for long-lived, well-structured wines. La Delizia - which borders another important cru Lazzarito - is located at approximately 400 meters altitude with south/southwest exposure in a sedimentary marine soil that includes a calcareous marl component.

Key winemaking processes include frequent precision pumping of juice over the cap, maceration of 20-30 days and controlled temperature fermentation (alcoholic and malolactic). Matured in barrels of 50% new Allier oak for approximately twelve months, the wine is then racked into medium sized oak cask for an additional year. The wine is clarified with egg whites, bottled, and cellared for one further year before release.

Tasting Notes / Impressions:

Medium ruby color punctuated by flecks of crimson and, around the edges, just a tinge of burnt orange. Over several hours, aromas would appear, be gone, some only to reappear, vestiges of dried rose and cherry, plum, tobacco, mushroom, cola, ginger cake, and balsam. An utterly seductive palate experience features the simultaneous sensations of density and softness. Solidly structured, with close-grained tannins that have a cashmere-like fineness. The wine finishes with such a decrescendo of softness that it seems to momentarily exist somewhere just beyond touch.

Still capable of many cellar years.

NOTE: I decanted this wine for 2 hours before really sitting down with it.

Food Pairing Suggestions:

MEATS: rich meat dishes of beef, rabbit, chicken or duck, perhaps wrapped in pancetta and braised or roasted (note: I wouldn’t wrap the duck in pancetta). Use the juices to create a sauce to serve with polenta or pasta. CHEESES: medium to full aged cheeses.

1, Original remix drawn from impressions of A Wine Atlas of the Langhe, section Barolo, Eye Witness Reports

2, 3 from Tenementi Fontanafredda website

$$$

Categories: $$$ ($50+ ), Piedmont, Wine
Tags: Nebbiolo