If Bruno Giacosa is such a great winemaker, why has he only made wine in 16 out of the last 20 vintages? Honesty and integrity are vital elements of quality, and Bruno believed that in 91, 92, 94 and 06 he didn`t have the quality he needed to produce exceptional wines and so he declassified his single vineyard `crus` entirely. That takes both courage and integrity, and demonstrates why Bruno is taken so seriously. Now in his early eighties, this meticulous vigneron has worked in his family`s vineyards and cellars for almost seventy years.

Apart from being a superb winemaker, whose powers are undiminished by recent illness, Bruno falls into the traditional camp. Before Christmas we offered Voerzio and Clerico, archetypal modern producers with very short, intense fermentations and using new, French, small barrels. Giacosa`s wines have up to 30-day macerations and, although he uses French oak, his barrels are five thousand litres and not new. So these amazing wines are slowly made and nurtured, giving you all the delicate, complex flavours of the Nebbiolo grape, pure and unadorned.

Low yields in the vineyard give fantastic concentration, yet these are not wines of power and glory, but approachable and long, enveloping the drinker in the very soul of Piedmont. (CW 02/03/11)