From: Piedmont, Italy
Varietal: Freisa
Taste and Critical Acclaim: Hard to get and too easy to love, this bottling of Freisa is far more precious than its price point may lead you to think. I’d say Burlotto’s Freisa is what everyone hopes their Freisa ends up becoming. Polished, classy, and still so true to itself, this strawberry-laden, bing cherry-highlighted, rose-petaled, licorice, and spice-kissed red is a treat.
“2022 Langhe Freisa is a wonderfully vivid expressive wine. Lavender rose petal mint blood orange and pomegranate give the Freisa its beguiling nuanced personality. Firm yet well-integrated tannins wrap it all together. The aromatics alone are captivating but it's the wine's total sense of harmony that is most impressive of all.” —Vinous, 92 points
Pairing: The 2022 Comm. G.B. Burlotto Freisa is a fantastic wine to enjoy alone or at the table with a range of local Piedmontese dishes. Try it with meat-filled ravioli, truffle risotto, osso bucco, grilled field mushrooms, venison ragù with polenta, or the traditional Vitello Tonnato (see recipe below). The wine has great acidity to cut through something like the burger at Gainsbourg across the street—which is made from a mix of beef and lamb—or a tartiflette to take inspiration from Burlotto’s historic ties to the House of Savoy in the French alps.
Christmas Veal with Tuna Sauce (Vitello Tonnato)
By the Editorial Staff of La Cucina Italian
About. Burlotto is the flagship producer from Barolo’s Verduno area. This is a property of enormous historic importance, fabulously delicious wines, and outstanding value.
The Commendatore Giovan Battista Burlotto, one of Barolo's great characters, founded the estate back in 1850. The labels still commemorate the royal house of Savoy’s fondness for Burlotto wines, as well as the winery’s exclusive presence on Duke Luigi Amedeo's 1899 North Pole expedition. The Duke lost two fingers to frostbite, but wrote to the Commendatore a year and a half into the trip that “[t]he wine has been conserved in perfect condition.” G.B. Burlotto was also a pioneer of selling wine in bottle (rather than in cask or demijohn), as well as a champion of a now-rare but still-ravishing grape, Pelaverga Piccolo.
Five generations later, G.B.’s great-great-grandson, Fabio Alessandria, has changed little at the winery, doing some of the crush by foot, fermenting the wine in upright wooden vats, using indigenous yeast and little temperature control. See the following quote for Burlotto’s philosophy in the vineyards and in the cellar.
“In our view, tradition does not teach us to always cultivate grapes and make wine in the same way, according to some fossilized protocol, but in fact it advocates for the opposite. Tradition has taught us to elevate to the highest the uniqueness of each vine and each variety as they are influenced by their terroir and the season. That is, to create a work of interpretation that expresses honest craftsmanship, harvest after harvest, wine after wine without dogma, ritual, or narcissism.”
We love Burlotto wines for their history, but even more for their diversity, their pure fruit, delicate structure, and signature Verduno floral aromatics and spicy palate. The family's single-vineyard Barolos, especially the culty Monvigliero, are some of Piedmont's most lauded wines, critical and collector favorites year-in and year-out. But they continue to make extraordinary wines for Piedmont's more humble grapes (including Dolcetto, Barbera, Freisa, and of course Pelaverga), wines that don't attempt to turn those grapes into Nebbiolo blockbusters but rather that show their unique charms and terroir transparency. The sheer drinkability of these "lesser" wines is is tremendous, and the pricing for such special bottles from such top-rank grower, is shockingly accessible.
About this wine. The 2022 Comm. G.B. Burlotto Freisa comes from a 0.52 hectare plot in Burlotto’s Cadìa vineyard, located in a historic area along the road that travels from Verduno to the municipality of Roddi, in whose territory the vineyard is located. It is a hill whose innate quality has been known for centuries. The vineyards are located between 250-280 meters above sea level. The area, wonderfully panoramic, has the same geological texture as the great Barolo vineyards of the “Tortonian” section – municipalities of Verduno, Barolo, La Morra, Cherasco and Novello, and part of Monforte d’Alba – and the expression we capture in our wines is the spontaneous aptitude for softness and tannic delicacy, emphasized by the bright exposure to the south.
The harvest was carried out by hand, in order to preserve the integrity of the fruit and to allow for, when necessary, a selection of the grapes which are then transported to the cellar in 20 kg boxes. The bunches were de-stemmed and the must moved by gravity into open French oak vats or open stainless steel tanks where alcoholic fermentation took place. During the maceration, delicate pumping over and punching down were carried out daily. Malolactic fermentation occurred in stainless steel tanks followed by aging in large French oak barrels. Bottling is usually carried out in the period between the end of August and the beginning of September of the year following the harvest.
“In the chorus of Langa reds, hers is the most baritone, deepest voice. Gruff, a loquacious companion at the table, the bottle of Freisa attracts attention like a magnet, her breath so ardent, material so dark, flavor so vigorous. She obliges us to present the most intense dishes and the most passionate conversations alongside her.” —Burlotto
