2022 Langhe Favorita DOC

Denomination: Langhe Favorita D.O.C.
Comunes: Alba
Variety: 100% Favorita
Area: 1Ha
First year of production: 2021
Annual production: 2,000 bottles

Coming from our own vineyard in the zone of Alba, this Favorita is produced from vines that are 60 years old. Sadly, Favorita is becoming rarer in the Langhe but we believe it has the possibility to produce great wine. We aim to always pick twice once, for acidity and the second for fruit complexity.

Winemaking
The grapes are whole bunch pressed and the juice is settled naturally (without added enzymes or sulphur dioxide) for a period of 4 hours. It is then racked to French barriques of which all are old so as not to give wood flavour. Alcoholic fermentation is completed in barrel with no added yeast. No Malic fermentation. The wine will stay in barrique on fermentation lees for 8 months without battonage and racked only when it is time for bottling. The bottling is done without fining or filtration.

Jancis Robinson Wine Review

'60-year-old Favorita, aka Vermentino, fermented in old barriques and aged on the lees for eight months without stirring. Unfiltered.
Very pale straw with a green tinge. Sweetly perfumed white fruit over greengage and with a touch of lees (50% of the wine went through malolactic conversion) and chalky minerally notes. Vibrant, lemony acidity and sweet pear fruit. Long and wired and really refreshing. (WS)'

17.5+ points

2022 Dolcetto d’Alba DOC

Denomination: Dolcetto d’Alba D.O.C.
Comunes: Alba
Variety: 100% Dolcetto
Area: 1.3Ha
First year of production: 2021
Annual production: 2,000 bottles

Coming from our own vineyard in the zone called by the locals ‘Bricco Capre’, this Dolcetto is produced from vines that are on average 60 years old. The production is under 50% of what it could do, but the quality it produces is outstanding. In this wine, we are searching for bright, fresh aromatics typical of dolcetto, medium body with a gentle, chalky tannin finish.

Winemaking
As with all my wines, the wine is made with gentle extraction and focus on the aromatics in preference to colour and tannin. Open fermented with wild yeast, and aged for 8 months in 10 year old barriques. The bottling is done without fining or filtration.

2022 Barbera d’Alba DOC

Denomination: Dolcetto d’Alba D.O.C.
Comunes: Alba
Variety: 100% Barbera
Area: 1.3Ha
First year of production: 2021
Annual production: 2,000 bottles

As with the Dolcetto and Favorita under the ‘Cantina della Stazione’ label this Barbera is derived from our own vineyard in the zone called by the locals ‘Bricco Capre’ which is within the Alba DOC. An average age of 60 years and extremely low cropping, the fruit always perfectly formed with crunchy skins and amazing fruit intensity.

Winemaking
This is the one wine we play with whole bunch fruit during fermentation. We use it to achieve a style of Barbera that is extremely elegant and lifted in the aromatics and layered with complexity on the palate. Rather than soft and fruit driven, it becomes more structured and defined. As with all my wines, the wine is made with gentle extraction and focus on the aromatics in preference to colour and tannin. Open fermented with wild yeast, and aged for 8 months in 10 year old barriques. The bottling is done without fining or filtration.

(Image: Dave Fletcher - Cantina della Stazione / www.fletcherwines.com)