2012 Elio Altare Langhe Giarborina

A form of thumbing their nose at the bureaucrats who insisted that the Langhe Arborina be renamed, they chose Giarborina….”gia” in Italian means “already”, so the name sort of translates to “already Arborina”…..this cleverness aside, this is benchmark Arborina, incredibly consistent and substantial. In many comparative tastings, after a proper amount of cellaring, the wine is often preferred by collective tasting panels over the benchmark “traditionalist” producers such as Bartolo Mascarello and Giacomo Conterno. I have always felt that the categorizing of “modernist” and “traditionalist” is very often a disservice to wine lovers. Piemontese beauty is as Piemontese beauty does. The proof is in the pudding, and there is no denying the substance and class of their home estate vineyard….

“The 2012 Langhe Giarborina is the same wine Altare previously sold as Langhe Arborina, but now sold under a different name now that regulations forbid the use of a vineyard name for Langhe Nebbiolos. Sweet red-fleshed berries, orange peel. tobacco, mint and crushed flowers come together in a very pretty wine that captures the essence of this La Morra site. The 2012 is already quite open and expressive but it also has the pedigree to drink well for another 10-15 years, perhaps longer” 94 points Galloni