Giovanni Almondo Roero Bric Valdiana 2022
Giovanni Almondo Roero Bric Valdiana
Region: Piemonte, Italy
Vintage: 2022
Bottle size: 75cl
Grape: Nebbiolo
ABV: 14.5%
Notes: Vegetarian, Practising Organic, Vegan
On the nose, this wine shows aromas of strawberry, sweet red cherry and mint. The palate is juicy yet elegant, with flavours of raspberry, violet and thyme and a very long finish.
The grapes for this wine originate from the nine-hectare Bric Valdiana vineyard, in the municipality of Montà. The vineyard lies at elevations between 230 and 320 metres above sea level, with a south to south-east exposure. At the crest of the hill, the soils are predominantly composed of the “Sand of Asti,” the yellow-grey sands characteristic of the Roero area. Further downslope, these sands are interwoven with the older “Clays of Lugagnano,” marine clays formed approximately 5.5 million years ago. The vineyard is notably steep, and the 40-year-old vines are Guyot-trained with vertical shoot positioning.
The grapes were carefully selected and hand picked into 15kg boxes. Once at the winery, the fruit underwent a further thorough selection. Maceration took place for 18-22 days on the skins at 12°C and was followed by fermentation in stainless steel vats with indigenous yeasts, for 24 days. The wine then aged for 16 months in large, un-toasted Slavonian oak casks.
This family-owned estate is based in Montà, in the Roero hills north of Alba. Although the Almondo family has lived here for over 600 years, Domenico Almondo was the first, in the early 1980s, to make wine from their 18 hectares of meticulously tended vines. He is now assisted by his sons Stefano and Domenico. The commune of Montà is geologically divided. Giovanni Almondo’s Arneis achieves great aromatic expression in the higher-acidity, sandy soils of the northern vineyards, while his Nebbiolo thrives in the south on slightly lower-lying calcareous soils of marine origin.