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Cappellano, Barolo Pie Franco, 2021

Red Wine from Piedmont, Italy
by Cappellano
$649.00
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The unicorn of all Barolo unicorns: Pie Franco is bottled only in the vintages the family judges worthy, from ungrafted, own-rooted Nebbiolo of the Michet clone that Teobaldo Cappellano planted in 1989 in the Otin Fiorin parcel of the Gabutti cru, Serralunga d'Alba. "Pie franco" means the vines stand on their own European roots rather than the American rootstock that phylloxera forced on virtually all of Europe — an obsessive, nearly extinct way of farming Nebbiolo, and the reason this bottle has become mythical. Set beside its grafted sibling Pie Rupestris, it is silkier, more ethereal and more complex, without being any less Serralunga in its severity. Cappellano is one of Barolo's great traditional houses: tiny production, no ratings, no marketing, on principle. 2021 was a long, warm-but-not-hot season with a dry autumn that gave classically structured Barolo, ripe tannin and real freshness together — a vintage to bury for two decades.

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More about Cappellano

Serralunga is extreme. No village in Barolo produces wines of greater structure and longevity. We understand that has to do with its soils, as no village in Barolo has a greater concentration of limestone.

When dealing with such a lion of a terroir, it must be tempting to find a whip that will tame the beast. For a wine-maker, that could be barriques, or short macerations, or roto-fermentors. Those are the short-cuts.

Augusto Cappellano, like his father Teobaldo before him, does not take those short cuts. Partly, that's because he is just fine with structure and longevity. That is the natural product of Serralunga's special terroir, after all. Partly, it's because Augusto's extremely high-quality farming (the family has only four hectares so they can apply their natural farming methods assiduously to each and every vine) ensures that the grapes' tannins ripen properly, avoiding any of the harsh, bitter qualities that for years many assumed were also "natural."

Wine Details

  • Grape Variety

    Nebbiolo

  • Vintage

    2021

  • Size

    750ml

  • Sweetness

    Dry

  • Body

    Full Bodied

Flatiron's Take

From the Importer

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Tasting Notes & Food Pairings

Perfect Pairings

Brasato al Barolo, braised game, truffle risotto, or aged Castelmagno.

Tasting Profile

Deep and powerful but silky with it: dark cherry, rose, licorice, tar and earth. Full-bodied, with serious firm tannins and bright acidity, and a very long savory finish. Needs cellar time, or a long decant.

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