2020 Giulia Negri, Barolo, Marassio

We are huge fans of Giulia’s wines and believe that she is going to be a very important figure in Barolo’s rising generation. We really like the elegant/pure style of her wines and her passionate philosophy. Giulia’s meteoric rise to fame shows no sign of abating – especially after being profiled on TV by Stanley Tucci. Giulia took the helm of the family estate when she was just 24 years old. Her vines are perched high in the hills of La Morra in the Serradenari cru, cresting over 536 meters on nutrient-poor limestone soil. These are some of the highest vineyards in all of Barolo and the cooler microclimate here helps add an extra pique of freshness to her Baroli. Giulia crafts hauntingly pure and lithe Nebbiolo from these windswept vineyards and draws a lot of inspiration from the great wines of Burgundy. Her Baroli are seamless, timeless wines well worth pursuing, and Marassio is her very top wine which comes from her oldest vines in the Serradenari Cru. Unique for La Morra, the soil in Marassio is rich in limestone with veins of chalk and yields a wine with dense fruit, profound minerality, and an earthy character to the wine. The ’20 vintage is accessible in its youth so you can enjoy this now or forget it for a few years and it will only get better.