Cappellano Barolo 1964

Nebbiolo from Barolo, Piedmont, Italy

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Product Details

Varietal

Nebbiolo

Region

Barolo, Piedmont, Italy

Producer

Cappellano

Vintage

1964

Size

750ML

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Somm Note

Winemaker Notes

Cappellano

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A legend in Barolo—and among artisanal growers throughout Italy—Cappellano was one of the last of the region’s great traditionalist winemakers—and he was one of Barolo’s most compelling personalities. In 1983 he banished all journalists from his cellar, unless they agreed to review his wines without scores. (He saw ratings as divisive among growers.) And he may have been the only person who, during his lifetime, made a Barolo from ungrafted vines. With his passing, his son Augusto will continue Teobaldo’s important work, which includes producing the family’s renowned Barolo “Piè Franco” and Barolo “Rupestris”. The near-universal admiration accorded Cappellano was striking, given that his attitudes were often controversial. Variously described as a “wine artist,” “professional polemist,” and a “poet, philosopher and winemaker in his spare time,” he was president of the influential Vini Veri (or “true wine”) group. He was also a longtime leader of Italy’s sustainable agriculture movement. Cappellano has been compared to Bartolo Mascarello, both as a beloved figure and in the depth of his views. And his Barolos were just as firmly rooted in local traditions as were the late Mascarello’s. Cappellano made fewer than 800 cases of Barolo per year, all vinified traditionally: a fermentation of 14 to 21 days with indigenous yeasts and aging in well-seasoned botti for at least three years. His tiny production quickly disappeared into collectors’ cellars in Italy, Switzerland and Germany. As Antonio Galloni once wrote, “Cappellano’s wines are impossibly hard to find, even in neighboring Alba.”

Nebbiolo

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Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.

Barolo Wine

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The center of the production of the world’s most exclusive and age-worthy red wines made from Nebbiolo, the Barolo wine region includes five core townships: La Morra, Monforte d’Alba, Serralunga d’Alba, Castiglione Falletto and the Barolo village itself, as well as a few outlying villages. The landscape of Barolo, characterized by prominent and castle-topped hills, is full of history and romance centered on the Nebbiolo grape. Its wines, with the signature “tar and roses” aromas, have a deceptively light garnet color but full presence on the palate and plenty of tannins and acidity. In a well-made Barolo wine, one can expect to find complexity and good evolution with notes of, for example, strawberry, cherry, plum, leather, truffle, anise, fresh and dried herbs, tobacco and violets.

There are two predominant soil types here, which distinguish Barolo from the lesser surrounding areas. Compact and fertile Tortonian sandy marls define the vineyards farthest west and at higher elevations. Typically the Barolo wines coming from this side, from La Morra and Barolo, can be approachable relatively early on in their evolution and represent the “feminine” side of Barolo, often closer in style to Barbaresco with elegant perfume and fresh fruit.

On the eastern side of the Barolo wine region, Helvetian soils of compressed sandstone and chalks are less fertile, producing wines with intense body, power and structured tannins. This more “masculine” style comes from Monforte d’Alba and Serralunga d’Alba. The township of Castiglione Falletto covers a spine with both soil types.

The best Barolo wines need 10-15 years before they are ready to drink, and can further age for several decades.

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