Funny enough I have never tried a Nervi wine before but I was aware that this is the first vintage under Conterno’s ownership and the price is twice as high as for the previous vintage. I believe all the fruit - including what would normally go into the single vineyard bottlings - went into this wine. Sounds like a chance to get something close to the single vineyard bottlings’ quality for the price of…what the single vineyards used to cost. I can’t really miss the old prices since I never bought this before (although I do have one bottle of the 2013 Valferana in the cellar) so what counts is how the quality here compares to the current price. No reason to complain, this is quite a beauty that will cellar well. Very classy, traditional Nebbiolo all the way.
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2015 Nervi-Conterno Gattinara - Italy, Piedmont, Northern Piedmont, Gattinara (6.8.2020)
The color is just beautiful: transparent, slightly hazy and brick red. Splendidly expressive from the get-go with the most classic nose: savory, slightly sour and earthy red cherry, tar, and rose petals with just the right amount of Amaro character. Very clearly there is also a minerally dimension to it, fairly complex I would say. Serious for sure but yet there is something playful about it. On the palate it shows quite considerable richness with very respectable tannins to match. While relatively concentrated it does not carry much fat at all - an awkward analogy would be saying that it has rather good muscle definition. In addition to being markedly firm it is also mighty powerful and seemingly has quite a lot of acid as the finish is majestically mouthwatering. There is a degree of austerity to it right now but to me it seems very much obvious that it has a great future ahead.
Posted from CellarTracker