Today Paolo Massobrio talks about Purpleryta on Il Golosario.
From Luigi Vico where all the crus of the Barolo municipality have their home
It’s all true, I immediately wrote on Instagram in front of the sunset seen from Serralunga d’Alba, in Luigi Vico’s house, which is not a private home, but a unique place where the inhabitants are the bottles of all the crus of Serralunga.
Or rather: do you have a dream? Here it is: here you can taste the wines of all the producers who are the soul of Prapò, Vigna Rionda, Serra, Cerretta, Lazzarito and Briccolina or compose a box of six bottles as you wish.
Luigi Vico, a chartered accountant in Turin, has returned to his origins, in the land of his parents, divided between the lands of Barolo and those of Roero.
Come here and you can taste the wines in front of the panorama, as I did, or in a dedicated room, which looks like a real cellar, even if small, or in a more professional and large one.
Soon there will also be rooms, which complete the wine tourism offer. Inside, then, the original paintings by Rita Barbero, known as Purpleryta, do not go unnoticed.
She works with wine, that is with the stains drawn on a white sheet and which gradually take on mythical shapes, like the disheveled and naked woman who represents the voluptuous embrace of Barbera. With this technique, Rita even drew the map of all the crus of Serralunga, where I too tried my hand, leaving my sun with Dolcetto.
The tasting begins.
Langhe Chardonnay “Ostium” 2020, classic straw yellow color, on the nose direct fruity and mineral notes with a touch of quince. It hits the sour sword and the beautiful intensity.
The Roero Arneis “Nebula Alba” 2019 has a yellow color tending to gold and a beautiful body.
But the big news is that wine that bears the name of Bianco “Carlo & Giorgina”, which offers bay leaves and medicinal herbs to the nose. It is the fruit of the vine that is under the window of my tasting which is entirely of Muscat. And Muscat has always been special here. This dry white is also very elegant, ending with a typical bitter note and leaving the palate savory. Congratulations!
Surprise then for the Langhe Dolcetto “De Dulcis in Fundo” 2018 made with grapes from Diano. The nose is pleasantly vinous, but also with intriguing almond notes. The sip is velvet and shows an example of true Dolcetto, very good, indeed remarkable.
But from the 2018 vintage the Langhe Barbera “Robur Vitae” is also striking, which has an authentic peasant expression with notes of plum and rose that drag into the mouth. A beautiful Barbera, elegant, fresh and mineral. 2019 promises, but it is still disheveled, as Rita’s label states and it needs a few months of bottle to find its order.
The Langhe Nebbiolo “Ne Bis in Idem” 2019 is iconic and here you understand Luigi Vico’s policy: to obtain wines that are pure, as one expects them. And this Nebbiolo, in fact, expresses the finesse of the grape very well: you feel the violet, then in the mouth it is warm, full, but always elegant in its gustatory expression.
A good entrance to taste the two Barolos: Prapò 2017, which was Top Hundred of 2021, being one of the best examples of Serralunga tasted blindly a year ago. Here the violet is macerated and the elegance is evident from that note of subtle china. Beautiful specimen dressed in elegance. The same can be said of Barolo di Serralunga 2017 which stands out with its orange color and on the nose shows the freshness of the walnut husk. This too has a long, elegant persistence and always with that evident and clear mineral note.
The Moscato d’Asti “Echinopsis Mirabilis” 2021, rich, with the freshness of wisteria and honey on the nose and fine bubbles for a moderately sweet sip, will then be overturned. Fantastic, like that 2019 that had conquered me (and here I would insert the obligation of the cup).
It ends with Vermouth Bianco di Torino, which is the sublimation of Moscato brought to the nth degree. An addictive elixir, yummy. In the name of what the distinction is.
Luigi, who I described in an article published in November 2020 on il Gusto.it, is satisfied with all this, even with those peaches put in a jar with Moscato, which are an absolute whim. Come and find him. I’ll be back, also to see what happened to my Dolcetto stain that Rita promised to frame. An excuse to meet friends again, who will have other news in a few months, such as the opportunity to taste the wine from the barrels, and maybe welcome them on the terrace, always around sunset time. The rest of the aperitif is not lacking here.