Barolos Made by Bruno Giacosa

Notes

• Cavalieri bottlings: According to the website of the Ordine dei Cavalieri del Tartufo e dei Vini d'Alba the following Bruno Giacosa Barolos have been bottled under their label (as well as his own):
  • 1978 Villero di Castiglione Falletto
  • 1978 Le Rocche di Castiglione Falletto
  • 1982 Falletto di Serralunga d'Alba

Barolo Vineyards

• The Falletto vineyard in the commune of Serralunga d'Alba has long been the primary source for Giacosa estate-bottled Barolo.
  • It was purchased by Giacosa from Luigi Brigante in 1980, however grapes were purchased from this vineyard as far back as 1964, and perhaps 1961.
  • Brigante bottled his own Falletto Barolo in 1961, 1971, 1978, and probably other vintages.
  • Starting with the 1971 vintage, wines bottled from this vineyard were labeled Falletto di Serralunga or Falletto di Serralunga d'Alba until the 2008 vintage when the law required that these be labeled only Falletto.

• Le Rocche del Falletto aka Falletto Vigna Le Rocche is a sub-vineyard of the estate-owned Falletto vineyard in Serralunga.
• The grapes from Le Rocche del Falletto were used to make the Falletto Riservas up to and including the 1996.
• The wines from the Le Rocche subplot have been bottled separately in every vintage since the 1997 vintage as Le Rocche del Falletto di Serralunga d'Alba.
• From the 2007 vintage to the 2009 vintage these wines are labeled with only Le Rocche del Falletto.
• Then starting with the 2011 vintage, these wines are labeled as Falletto Vigna Le Rocche.
• All these changes are due to changes in regulations. In particular, Le Rocche is an official Vriv, that is, an officially recognized vineyard within an MGA (here the MGA is Falletto). Vriv is short for Vigna rivendicata. A rough translation of Vigna rivendicata into English is "claimed vineyard". Here "claim" is used in the sense of "stake a claim" to a parcel of land based on its history.

• Here are maps and photos of Falletto and Le Rocche.

• Le Rocche di Castiglione Falletto.
  • Le Rocche di Castiglione Falletto and Le Rocche del Falletto are two unrelated vineyards.
  • Le Rocche del Falletto is a subplot of the estate-owned Falletto vineyard in the commune of Serralunga d'Alba as described above. It was only identified on Giacosa labels beginning with the 1997 vintage.
  • Le Rocche di Castiglione Falletto was made by Giacosa in the 1970's and early 1980's from grapes purchased from the Le Rocche vineyard in the commune of Castiglione Falletto. This vineyard is officially designed now as the Rocche di Castiglione Falletto MGA. However, it is not clear that Giacosa's Le Rocche di Castiglione Falletto came from today's Rocche di Castiglione Falletto MGA. I've been told that it came from different sources in different years.
    • In some years, it came from a vineyard known then as Rocche Rivera which was then owned by Arnaldo Rivera, who ran Terre del Barolo and was called by the nickname The Mayor of Rocche (he was actually the mayor of Castiglione Falletto for a while). Today Rocche Rivera is owned by the Luigi Oddero winery, and is actually part of the Scarrone MGA, the part of Scarrone closest to Pira, Rocche, and the town of Castiglione Falletto.

• Rionda is a vineyard in the commune of Serralunga d'Alba. As of 2010, it is the MGA Vignarionda aka VignaRionda
  • It is widely considered one of the top vineyards in the Barolo region, in large part due to the wines Bruno Giacosa made from this vineyard starting in 1967 and ending with the 1993 vintage.
  • The 1967 Giacosa Rionda and the 1967 Giacosa Rionda Riserva were the first single-vineyard Giacosa Barolos designated as such on the label.
  • From 1967 through 1970, the white label Riondas were labeled Vigna Rionda, while the 1967 Rionda Riserva and all Giacosa Riondas from 1971 until 1993 were labeled Collina Rionda. Collina means hill in Italian, while vigna means vineyard.
  • This wine came from a plot in Rionda owned by Aldo Canale. Some sources say that Canale did not sell Giacosa grapes, but rather fermented juice. I find that hard to believe given the inability of any other winemaker to make wine from these grapes that approaches the Barolo Rionda that Bruno Giacosa made.
  • From 1998 until 2010, Aldo's son Tommaso Canale farmed this plot.
  • In four vintages, 2003–2006, Canale sold fermented juice from his Rionda parcels to Roagna, who made a "Vigna Rionda" in each of these four vintages.
  • Tommaso Canale died intestate in 2010. His parcel has been divided among 3 heirs. More than half of the holdings (about 1.2 hectares) were inherited by Aldo's niece Ester Canale Rosso whose son Davide Rosso is the winemaker at their winery Az. Agr. Giovanni Rosso. The remainder was split 0.41 hectares each to Guido Porro of Az. Agr. Guido Porro and Sergio Germano of Ettore Germano, who now have about 0.41 hectares each. The portion inherited by Ester Canale Rosso is the portion that was once owned by her father Amelio. He was the brother of Aldo Canale. When he died in 1963, Ester and her mother had to sell this parcel to Aldo. David Berry Green gives more detail here.
  • Most of the Canale plot was not well-maintained. Guido Porro and Sergio Germano had to replant their entire parcels. Here is a photo of an old vine from Porro's parcel after it was ripped up. Davide Rosso replanted about 2/3 of his parcel. See the map below.
  • Here is a map of Canale's holdings in Rionda that I made from Google Maps with the help of Masnaghetti's Enogea Barbaresco map.
    
    • All of Rionda is outlined in blue.
    • The parcels in Rionda farmed by Aldo and then Tommaso Canale are outlined in red.
    • Parcel 1 now belongs to Sergio Germano. All of this parcel was replanted in 2011.
    • Parcel 2 now belongs to Guido Porro. All of this parcel was replanted in 2011.
    • Parcel 3 now belongs to Ester Canale Rosso and is farmed by her son Davide Rosso. All of this parcel was replanted in 2011 except the part labeled 3a. This part still contained enough healthy vines planted in 1946. So Davide saved this and replanted the rest from these vines. More details on the map page.
    • Due north is at the top of this photo.
    • The southern tip of the town of Serralunga d'Alba is on the far right.
    • Click on the photo for a larger version of this photo with this caption.
    • Original map © Google.
  • Some more details of this split are given (with many photos) in this 2012 blog post by Levi Dalton.
  • Under MGA rules, this vineyard is now called Vignarionda. Some are writing this as VignaRionda in order to make a clearer connection to the original name.
  • An interesting story about the wine from Canale's Rionda plot as told to group of us by Mauro Mascarello (of the G. Mascarello winery) at this dinner:
    In 1979 Mauro's father, Giuseppe, heard that grapes from the Rionda vineyard might be available. Someone (a broker?) took Giuseppe and Mauro to visit Aldo Canale to see about buying his Rionda grapes. When they arrived the person who brought them there said "Wait, Bruno Giacosa is in there. We have to wait for him to leave." It seems that Canale had a policy that whoever had bought the grapes the previous year got first crack at this year's grapes.
          Giacosa came out fuming and someone said "He must have passed on the grapes. He looks mad." Giuseppe said "Well, if they are too expensive for Giacosa, they are certainly too expensive for us." The guy who brought them there said they should check. They did. Canale told them that these were terrific grapes and worth the higher price that year. So they bought them.
          Mauro made the wine and was shocked that it was almost clear. When they got a call the next year asking if they wanted the grapes again, they said no because the wine was still clear. Then a few months later, in spring of 1981, the color changed and the wine was great. But by then Giacosa was back with Canale taking all the grapes, and Mauro never got them again.
          Here is the same story as recounted by Greg dal Piaz, along with a tasting note.

• Villero is a famous vineyard in Castiglione Falletto.
  • Giacosa made a single-vineyard Barolo from this vineyard beginning in 1978 and ending in 1996.
  • The grapes were bought from Fratelli Sordo. Giacomo Fenocchio married Sordo's daughter and the wine has been made under his name since 1997.
  • In 1978, Giacosa made both a white label and a red label Villero. This 1978 Villero Riserva was the only riserva he ever made from Villero, but the white label Villeros often ranked among his best non-riserva Barolos.

• Vigna Croera is a vineyard in La Morra which Giacosa purchased in the early 2000s. They made only one single-vineyard wine from this vineyards in 2004. They sold this plot in 2012.
  • According to Antonio Galloni, This plot is in the highest part of La Morra, in a district called Serradenari. It is not a formally designated vineyard in the documentation. This area is best known for Dolcetto, in fact Giacosa told me that he doesn't expect he will be able to make a Barolo from this vineyard in every vintage because the micro-climate is quite variable. The producer from whom Giacosa bought the land has a copyright on the term Serradenari so the Giacosa wine is labeled Croera.
  • The Fine Wine Geek believes that the producer Giacosa bought this vineyard from is Giulia e Giovanni Negri.

• Arione di Serralunga d'Alba Barolo was produced by Giacosa in 1971, 1976, and 1978.
  • The grapes were bought from Gigi Rosso who owned almost the entire vineyard.
  • This parcel was sold to the G. Conterno Winery in 2015.

• Bussia di Monforte Barolo Riserva Speciale (red label) was made in 1974, 1975, 1978, and 1979.
  • Based on multiple sources, I have some confidence that the source of these grapes was Adriano Fratelli aka Tenuta Pian Pianpolvere. This winery is at 31 Borgo Bussia, Monforte D'alba, CN 12065, Italy. I cannot find a website for this winery, but they do have a Facebook page.
  • Note that this is not Pianpolvere Soprano which is close by and since 1998 owned by the Migliorini family, which also owns Rocche dei Manzoni.
  • This is also different from Adriano Marco and Vittorio which is in Frazione San Rocco Seno d'Elvio between Alba and Treiso.

• Ginestra di Monforte Barolo was produced by Giacosa in 1974.

• Pugnane di Castiglione Falletto Barolo was produced in 1978. The Pugnane vineyard overlaps the boundary between Monforte and Castiglione Falletto. Alessandro Masnaghetti points out in his authoritative book, Barolo MGA Vol. I [2018, Second Edition, page 160, also p. 352] that the larger, warmer part of Pugnane is in Monforte. This was even more the case in the 1970s. So most likely most or all of the grapes for this wine came from the Monforte side, even though it was labeled Pugnane di Castiglione Falletto. Today, under the MGA rules, the portion of Pugnane in Castiglione Falletto is identified as the Pugnane MGA. While the portion of Pugnane in Monforte is a toponimo (named place) within the large Bussia MGA.

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