After a high quality 2015 vintage that produced ripe, well structured wines, the mesmerising 2016 vintage came along and took the global market for Barolo and Barbaresco by storm. Luscious, powerful and structured but with incredible balance, freshness and intensity, 2016 was certainly a vintage that was not going to be forgotten in a hurry.
With impossible expectations set for the 2017 Barolo releases, this hot, dry and much more challenging vintage was never going to be an easy sell to the mainstream collector market especially after so many customers had dug deep into their pockets to go long on the lauded 2016s. But great wineries are capable of producing accomplished wines even in the tricky vintages especially when the fruit comes from a high class vineyard site like the Cru Margheria in Serralunga.
Cantina Luigi Pira Barolo Margheria 2017, 14.5% Abv.
The Luigi Pira 2017 Barolo Cru Margheria is an exotically perfumed expression from this warmer, dryer vintage showing complex aromatics of purple flowers, violets, pink musk, hints of cherry cola, salty red liquorice, creme de cassis, tart blueberries and melted tar. The tannins are sweet and powdery, fine grained and mouth-coating, balanced by a wonderfully juicy, tangy tart red cherry acidity and a plush textured mineral grip. The 2017 is slightly more accessible and slimline than the block buster 2016 but no less seductive, elegant and alluring. Another very impressive and expressive Cru Barolo from Pira. Drink this now on release and over 10 to 12+ years.
Admittedly, I love Barolo and drink a lot of all the top producer’s wines at any chance I get, but I have to be honest that while I’d heard a little bit about the Luigi Pira wines, I had never tasted any. So what a way to acquaint oneself with a new Barolo producer’s wines than to taste their blockbuster 2016s!
Founded by the Pira family in 1950, this Serralunga estate consists of 12 hectares of vineyards at 300 metres above sea level with winemaking duties overseen by Giampaolo Pira. Vigna Marenca and Vigna Margheria are reputed to be some of the best vineyards in the township of Serralunga and this estate produces single vineyard Baroli from plots owned in all of these crus (which can be seen from the azienda’s terrace). In the 1950s the grapes were initially sold off. In the subsequent years, small quantities of Barolo started to be bottled at the estate.
In 1993 the Baroli Margheria and Marenca were produced followed by Barolo Vigna Rionda in 1997. The wines from these three crus are typical of the great terroir of Serralunga displaying great minerality, intensity and power. Barolo Margheria, made from 50-year-old vines, is the most classical. Barolo Marenca and Barolo Vigna Rionda are structured and complex, with a lot of muscle and age ability. But tasting all these crus for the first time was certainly an exciting exercise.
Luigi Pira Serralunga Barolo 2016, 14.5% Abv.
The Luigi Pira 2016 Barolo Serralunga is another fabulously dense and sweetly fruited Nebbiolo that has just the most seductive aromatics of dried rose petals, violets, potpourri, orange peel, tea tree oil, tart red cherries and an exotic licorice and wild herb botanical top note. The palate is cool, plush and powerful with fleshy layers of red and black cherry, char grilled herbs, dried ginger and plenty of dried thyme and sage. True to the iconic 2016 vintage, this wine combines classical Serralunga structure and power with a beautiful fruit opulence and concentration. Deliciously accessible and fresh, this is another Barolo beauty from the vintage.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Luigi Pira Margheria Barolo 2016, 14.5% Abv.
The Luigi Pira 2016 Barolo Margheria is an exotic, complex expression of the vintage with the most intricate aromatics of pressed purple flowers, pink musk , cherry cola, licorice and tar, dried rose petals and the most personality filled botanical, herbal vermouth spice nuances. The tannins are powerful and grainy coating the mouth with a fabulously plush mineral grip. On the palate there are hints of saline cassis, black cherry and bramble berry spice with a long, liquid mineral stony finish. This possess all the power and structure to last a very long time in the cellar. Something very serious but also very magical from a fantastic Barolo vintage. (7,000 bottles produced.)
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Luigi Pira Marenca Barolo 2016, 14.5% Abv.
With one of the only other Marenca Crus produced going into the Gaja Sperss Barolo cuvee, you know this is a very special site. So with Sperss 2016 garnering a perfect 100 points from the Wine Advocate, you would expect this wine to also show something extra special sharing the same terroir. This Marenca is almost like a subtle blend of the Pira Margheria and the Pira Serralunga Barolo wines with rich, plump, bold dark berry nuances, pink musk, charcoal embers, licorice and potpourri spice but also notes of freshly tilled earth, crushed gravel, iron and blood together with a fabulous dried herb and wood spice melange. The palate is deceptively generous and cool with seductively textured layers of blue and black berry fruits, cassis, black currant, purple rock candy, graphite and the most suave fleshy plump tannins I have tasted on a Nebbiolo in a long time. This really is classy and classical, yet supremely ripe, intense and just drop dead gorgeous. A very fine effort from Pira!
