Paul: “Surely the “purpose of life” is not to make the “megachinery,” hire employees…”
Cristina: “No…we realized that we like it that way…we make our own bottles and sell them.”
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Nothing replaces tasting. Nor does the experience of touching the sandy soil and feeling which way the breeze blows.We can, however, let the people who make the wine, who know every clod and every shoot, tell the story of the wine. And do it through the talents of The Nats: a video production team that looks at vineyards through the lens of naturalistic expertise.
Presentation Below Above
Cristina: “The barbera “Sotto Sopra” is our Barbera d’Alba Superiore. It comes from two vineyards, one in Serralunga and the other in Signo. We combine them because we believe they create a beautiful synergy: we have the crisper, cleaner characteristics and aromas of Signo, while Serralunga gives us structure and tenacity.”
Langhe Nebbiolo Presentation
Cristina: “Practically everything started with Nebbiolo, when we opened our ettività we started with producing just 1400 bottles of Nebbiolo. Over the years we have changed our way of making wine a little bit, moving closer and closer to getting a wine that is fresh, light but maintains the characteristics of Nebbiolo.”
Paul “It is vinified in steel. It does not macerate too long, about 8-10 days depending on the vintage. The aging is then done 50% in steel, and 50% in barrique, with a fairly quick passage, 4-5 months just to soften and round out the tannins, leaving its freshness and the fruit of Nebbiolo intact.”
Bosco Presentation
Cristina: “The barbera “Bosco” is a wine that I strongly wanted, since we all make fairly tough, strong wines. I wanted a wine, a little bit fresher. We called it Bosco because we make it with Barbera grapes near our forest. It’s a fresh wine, precisely-we pair it with a piece of cheese, a fresh toma or a piece of salami. The classic wine you take when you go on a picnic, the wine for Easter rather than for an afternoon with friends!”
L’Ardita Presentation
Paolo: “Ardita is our only white wine. Starting with Favorita grapes, we named it that way because it is a white that comes out of the box a bit. It is not the classic Favorita, it is a macerated white, with more than ten days of maceration with the skins it acquires color, structure, scents, aromas… It is a white that is not just good for making aperitifs, it can easily accompany a meal with important dishes, especially fish, since the Favorita grape is a close relative of Vermentino.”
Barolo presentation
Paolo: “Our Barolo comes from two communes, 50 percent of the grapes come from Cru Gallareto in the commune of Diano, the other 50 percent from Serralunga. It does an aging of about two years, a long maceration at harvest – 35 to 40 days of maceration with the skins – after fermentation these are splinted, then it continues its submerged cap maceration. After about 6 months of further bottle aging it is put on the market, 4 years total aging. Compared to the easier-drinking Barolos, the substantial difference is precisely the long maceration with the skins, from which all that can be extracted is extracted. When I go to racking the skins are completely exhausted, almost unmade, this gives it longevity. In the first year of life in fact it remains a difficult Barolo to drink, a bit unripe, but in the long run this maceration gives it a nice help…”
Cristina: “Let’s say it’s kind of like us. In the beginning maybe we are a little shy, a little closed, then the more time passes the more we ‘loosen up’.”
Autin presentation
Paolo: “When I can make Dolcetto d’Alba Superiore in the vintage, it is among my favorites. It is a wine that you don’t just drink, you almost eat it! Very full, fruity, fills the mouth… It’s a Dolcetto you don’t expect, a Dolcetto that comes out of the box. It is not born in the commune of Serralunga, it comes from a vineyard we have in Signo, a vineyard higher above sea level, with a red clay soil, very compact. Here the vines “go into stress” (fruit very little) and we have a very low yield, about forty quintals per hectare. This gives the wine a very important structure, a very strong acidity and a great freshness. Not every year unfortunately I manage to do this, I have to fight a bit with wild boars…But in the years when it succeeds, the superior gives great satisfaction.”
Alchemy Presentation
Paolo: “Well, let me tell you about Alchemy, our rosé wine. A wine made from 100% Barbera grapes, it is a fresh wine with a fairly high alcohol content but well disguised by its acidity. Alchimia came about mainly because we come from a territory of great reds, and we as a company had few summer wines to drink in hot weather. So I thought I would try to make this rosé that changes every year, it’s never made from the same grape variety. We started by making it from Dolcetto, then from Dolcetto and Nebbiolo, from Nebbiolo and Barbera… The two thousand and two is 100% Barbera and it’s called Alchemy precisely because of this experimenting with various grape varieties, this magic of mixing fermentations, processes…alchemical precisely.”
