PIEDMONT REPORT: FORTUNE FAVORS BAROLO

Despite early season setbacks, the 2017 vintage delivers fresh, complex reds from top estates

- BRUCE SANDERSON 

April 15, 2O17. As I was leaving Giuseppe Mascarello’s cellar in Monchiero, the sky was menacing, an ominous shade of green and black. By the time I reached La Morra, the dark clouds had unleashed a torrential rain. In 20 minutes it was over, leaving remnants of hail pellets on the ground. The Neive commune of Barbaresco bore the brunt of the damage, along with Alta Langa and parts of Asti. The vines were two weeks in advance, some already bearing shoots a foot to a foot-and-a-half long, due to the unseasonably warm weather.

If the storm that day wasn’t bad enough, the following week brought three nights of freezing temperatures, causing frost in low-lying areas and an average loss of 20% in the affected vineyards.

The season changed course, however, and the summer turned hot, with very dry conditions in July and August. But the vintage wasn’t as hot as some other scorchers, such as 2011 or 2003, and the Barolos aren’t stamped with the character of a hot vintage, thanks to ample water reserves from the spring rains as well as cool summer nights and favorable weather during the crucial ripening phase in September.

Although the Nebbiolo harvest came early— and was mostly finished by the end of September—the growing season itself was long, due to the precocious growth in the spring, yielding fine conditions for ripening Nebbiolo. Yet the crop was 20% to 30% lower than average for Barolo overall, and less wine was made, in part, because of the small, thick-skinned berries.