2022 Brandini 'Filari Corti' Langhe Nebbiolo, Piedmont, Italy

Winemaker Notes

People often say the first Barolo in a producer’s range is the cantina’s business card. But for those on a modest wine budget looking for inspiration and Nebbiolo summer dreams, it might be Brandini’s mercurial Langhe Nebbiolo “Filari Corti.” Its charm meter is Pelaverga-Frapatto level, but with more sophistication. Picked earlier than Nebbiolo for their Barolos, it strikes with upfront and bright fruit and flower nuances: first-of-the-season farmer’s market strawberries and raspberries, pink and red flowers, sweet rose, poppy, meyer lemon and orange, and extremely clean lees—this last being an intoxicating tasting note for those in the know. Lively and taut, classic regional and varietal notes of sweet licorice and tar creep back up on the finish.

Despite its seductive approach, it’s also serious. Coming to understand its pedigree requires more swirling and sipping than gulping. With similar cask-aging obligations to that of a Barbaresco (nine months minimum in wood for this DOCG), it’s aged twelve months in large wooden casks. It comes from numerous organic parcels with an average age of fifteen years from Alba (between the southside of town and the Ceretto winery), Monforte d’Alba, and La Morra, giving it an altitude range between 270m to almost 500m, which brings breadth and layering that emerges once one’s palate is settled in after the infatuation period.