Cascina Adelaide, Barolo 4 Vigne, Piedmont, Italy, 2017

The gloriously and slightly Bond villain-esque named Amabile Drocco took over an ailing, failing small wine estate and old farmhouse in the heart of Barolo back in 1999, following an extremely successful engineering career. He piled his passion, experience and a fair amount of cash into Cascina Adelaide* and has turned it into one of the most exciting in the region with vines in some of Barolo's most prestigious vineyard sites, a fantastic, subterranean winery and incredible attention to detail.

This wine is a blend of grapes, all Nebbiolo, from four different cru (vineyards). Everything goes through a very strict selection procedure; hand picking, hand sorting, 12 hours in small baskets in a drying room to reduce moisture on the bunches, gentle de-stalking to ensure no stalks are included in the must and the grape skins are not damaged, and then a long, cool alcoholic fermentation using the natural yeasts. The wine then goes into oak for the spontaneous malolactic fermentation and two years of ageing. 

The resulting wine is a picture of balance - power, elegance, fruit and that elusive "other" that I cannot get enough of!

*PS although it is called Cascina Adelaide, no Aussies were involved in the producers creation and the name may well predate the Australian city!

PPS, did you know Iron & Rose is named in honour of Barolo? It's that ying / yang thing of power and elegance that I love in wine, particularly Barolo! R.