2021 Corino Giovanni di Corino Giuliano, Barolo La Morra - Liberty

The Corino family have farmed land in La Morra since the 1950s, originally coming to the region as ‘mezzadri’, or sharecroppers. Yet it wasn’t until Giuliano Corino took over from his grandfather Giovanni in the 1980s that the Corino name became synonymous with some of La Morra’s finest Nebbiolo. Having originally sold their fruit, Giuliano was determined to start making and bottling his own wine from his family's vines.

The 1980s were a momentous time for winemaking in Barolo. With the advent of new thinking, based on foundations laid by the great Angelo Gaja, Giuliano experimented with rotary fermenters, short macerations, and small French oak barrels. In all his wines, tannins are perfectly managed, and oak is beautifully integrated, the result of Giuliano’s interpretation of a style that sits comfortably between tradition and modernity.

Today, Giuliano is helped both in the vineyard and cellar by his wife Stefania, daughter Veronica and son Andrea. Their wines offer wonderful expressions of the prime sites planted just below La Morra, where the estate’s 9.5 hectares are farmed.

The Langhe Nebbiolo is unoaked and released after one year ageing in stainless steel, resulting in a beautiful purity and fragrance with great balance. The Barolo hails from several sites around Annunziata, within the commune of La Morra. It is powerful yet balanced with alluring notes of redberry fruit and spices. The two single vineyards, ‘Giachini’ and ‘Arborina’, are planted on opposite sides of the small hamlet of Annunziata, where the winery is based. The soils here are primarily calcareous marl clays. While ‘Giachini’ faces south, ‘Arborina’ has a southeastern aspect, and its soils comprise a higher proportion of sand. The Barolo ‘Giachini’ shows an amplified complexity and density, while the superb Barolo ‘Arborina’ displays elegance and power, with its ripe fruit leavened by hints of spice and floral notes.

The ‘Bricco Manescotto’ vineyard, on the border with Castiglione Falletto, enjoys a southwestern exposure with soils comprised of equal parts clay, sand and marl. As with his other Barolos, after harvesting and crushing, Giuliano controls extraction during fermentation with rotary fermenters at 25 – 30°C. After malolactic fermentation in stainless steel, most of the wines are matured for up to 24 months in small French barrels, of which roughly a third are new. Once blended, the wines spend about six months in stainless steel before bottling.

This wine is a blend of two vineyards in La Morra. 50% of the fruit is grown in the Giachini vineyard, which faces east. The other half comes from Annunziata, which faces west. Both vineyards are about 250 metres above sea level. Soils are calcareous and clayey. Training system is a counter and the pruning is normal Guyot.

The 2021 vintage started with mild winter temperatures and plenty of rain. Some snow events helped ensuring water reserves for the season ahead. A wonderful warm, sunny weather characterised April and May, with fruit set more aligned to classical vintages. More good weather in June and July was punctuated by summer hailstorms that caused widespread damage throughout the Langhe. Excellent conditions continued through August. Harvest started at the very end of September. Smaller berries, phenolic ripeness, and good concentration of sugars and acids have produced structured, complex and age-worthy wines.

The grapes were crushed and destemmed at the winery. The berries underwent a five to seven day maceration in a rotary-fermenter at 25-30°C, followed by fermentation in stainless-steel vats. After malolactic fermentation, the wine was moved into used barriques for 24 months. The wines were transferred to stainless-steel for the final blending for a period of six months. The wine spent a year in bottle before release.

Bright garnet in colour, this wine is silky, aromatic and nuanced. It has delicate aromas of red cherries and plums with hints of cinnamon and floral undertones. On the palate, crushed red fruit, rose petals, spices and orange peel combine with polished tannins and a velvety mouthfeel with a long finish.