Elio Grasso
Appellation: Barolo
Proprietor: Gianluca Grasso
First Vintage: 1978
Size: 20 hectares
Farming Practice: Organic
The Amphitheater
Elio Grasso shows what’s possible in Barolo when passion meets tradition with an open mind. It starts with a sloping crescent of land unlike any other in Monforte d’Alba.
If you were coming of age in Barolo during the 1970s there was one job that could make anyone’s mother sigh with relief, and Elio Grasso had it: He was a banker in Torino. Langhe’s vineyards were perched between a hardscrabble past and a risky future, and growing Nebbiolo was an art of crossing your fingers and hoping for two good years out of ten. So a multigenerational farming family like the Grassos could rest a little easier when someone found a foothold in finance.
The problem was that Elio’s heart never left the hills—and resting easy wasn’t his style, either. Weekends often found him back in Monforte d’Alba, tending vines in the captivating natural amphitheater at the core of his family’s holdings. One day he called out sick to put in even more hours on the steep south-facing slopes. When his worried boss drove out only to find Elio shining with the sweat of the righteous under the sun, the jig was up. Elio duly tendered his resignation and answered his calling.
Grasso’s 18 hectares of vines, surrounded by 24 hectares of forests and meadows the family has long considered a vital part of their terroir, include parcels featured in Lorenzo Fantini’s authoritative vineyard maps from the early 1900s. But Elio was the first to start vinifying grapes that his forebears had previously sold. So it wasn’t until 1978 that the first single-vineyard Barolos from Gavarini Chiniera and Ginestra Casa Matè appeared.
That was an exceptional vintage across the region, but the next few brought a reversion to the exasperating Piemonte norm: two tribulations for every triumph, and a constant struggle for relevance all the while. Barolo was a hard sell for Reagan-era customers vacillating between France and California. Picture Elio on a sales trip to Philadelphia circa 1985, standing next to Jim in a white rain hat and flogging his flagship Gavarini for $12 a bottle.
And then, whiplash: a band of Langhe upstarts kick off a craze for rotary fermenters that cut maceration times from 50 days to five, fill their cellars with French barriques, and strike ratings gold with extracted blockbusters ready to drink after about six minutes in the bottle—but who knew whether they would age like Audrey Hepburn or Marlon Brando.
The Barolo Wars had begun.
For as long as they raged it seemed like everyone had to pick a side. And it would be easy enough to spin a morality tale about Elio Grasso, who was a traditionalist at heart. But that would miss this estate’s real achievement, which is that whatever you think about the Barolo Wars, it won the peace.
“I strongly believe that tradition is fundamental,” says Elio’s son Gianluca, whose vision in the cellar has helped cement the estate’s top position in Monforte since the early 2000s, during which the climate also shifted in the region’s favor. “But I also think that there’s no tradition without innovation—and let’s not forget that the tradition we have is the product of past innovations.”
No one would argue that the old practice of fermenting wine in rooftop barrels holds a candle to the state-of-the-art cave the Grassos tunneled out of their hillside in 2004, providing ideal temperatures and humidity for their wines to rest in wood and bottles. It also gave Gianluca the cellar space to respond to each vineyard and varietal on its own terms.
After fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, the Gavarini Chiniera and Ginestra Casa Matè Barolos both mature in traditional 2,500-liter botti of Slavonian oak. The result is a case study in how two neighboring vineyards—both facing south and limestone-based—can bring out different sides of Nebbiolo. Flowers and herbs spring from the limpid depths of the Gavarini Chiniera, which sits on the amphitheater’s higher and sandier stretch. Meanwhile the Casa Matè channels the plush dark fruit of a lower parcel that’s richer in clay. These are wines of amplitude and generosity, finesse and power. None more so than the Rüncot Riserva, from a clayey, calcareous plot right below the Grasso homestead. With four years of élevage after 60 days on the skins, this Barolo hums with a coiled intensity that augurs an exceptional lifespan in the cellar.
Long maturations and fermentations likewise mark Barbera Vigna Martina as a notable overachiever, especially in warm years. Dolcetto dei Grassi gets a full stainless treatment, as does a Nebbiolo from younger plantings in Gavarini whose fresh floral aromatics show off the kaleidoscopic capacity of that vineyard amphitheater—and help explain what drew Elio back to begin with.
Indeed, when asked to name the most important challenge he’s faced in recent years, Gianluca singles out the case of an elderly signora from the village who wanted to sell the forest that lines one flank of Gavarini Chiniera—now regarded by many as the finest sub-cru in Monforte, and to that point wholly controlled by the Grasso family. Prospective buyers lined up for the chance to clear-cut the timber and plant more vines. “Our intention was quite different,” recalls Gianluca: “simply to keep everything as it was”—the centenarian chestnuts and oaks, firs and wild cherries, hawks and hares, badgers and roe deer, and the whole underlying forest microbiome that brings equilibrium to their land. Fending off the other suitors cost a small fortune, but ultimately he managed to preserve both the woods and the family’s cru monopole.
“We produce our wines in full respect of tradition—but without narrow-mindedness and in full respect of nature and of those who work with us,” Gianluca stresses. “We strive above all to highlight the uniqueness and authenticity of our land to the fullest degree, and for this very reason the character or DNA of our wines comes totally from our precious terroir.”
Wines:
Varietal/Blend: Chardonnay
Vineyard Area: From one hectare of vines in Gavarini planted among Nebbiolo and Barbera — vines are an average age of 30+ years
Soil: Moderately loose-packed, sandy limestone-based soils
Elevation: 1,250-1,310 feet
Exposure: Southeast
Vine Training Method: Modified Casarsa
Vinification: The grapes are harvested by hand, de-stemmed and gently pressed before alcoholic fermentation in combination of temperature-controlled stainless steel and French oak barriques. Malolactic fermentation is blocked and some battonâge is employed.
Maturation: ~8 months in one third each of stainless steel, used barriques and new barriques.
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Varietal/Blend: Dolcetto
Vineyard Area: Grasso's Dolcetto vines cover 3.2 hectares in the cru of Ginestra. The site faces Bruno Giacosa's Falletto and Giacomo Conterno's Monfortino vineyards — average age of 30+ years.
Soil: Moderately loose-packed, clay and limestone-based
Elevation: 920 feet
Exposure: South
Vine Training Method: Guyot
Vinification: The grapes are harvested by hand. After the de-stemming and crush the must undergoes alcoholic fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks,with daily pumping over.
Maturation: After malolactic fermentation, the wine stays in stainless steel until bottling in April-May (total of about 6 months)
Marketing Materials:
Varietal/Blend: Barbera
Vineyard Area: From a single vineyard of 35-year-old vines situated around Gavarini with a surface area of 3.2 hectares.
Soil: Moderately loose-packed, clay and limestone-based
Elevation: 1,250 feet
Exposure: South-southwest
Vine Training Method: Guyot
Vinification: The grapes are harvested by hand. Alcoholic fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, with daily pumping over and were it stays for malolactic fermentation.
Maturation: Up to 18 months in 50% new barriques and 50% one-year-old barriques
Marketing Materials:
Varietal/Blend: Nebbiolo
Vineyard Area: Grasso's Langhe Nebbiolo comes three separate areas of Monforte: Gavarini Chiniera, Ginestra Casa Matè and Bricco San Pietro. The average age of vines is 20+ years. Other than in exceptional years, grapes from Rüncot are included in the final assemblage.
Soil: Moderately loose-packed, sandy limestone-based soils
Elevation: 1,150-1,250 feet
Exposure: South
Vinification: The selection for Langhe Nebbiolo "Gavarini" is made in the vineyard near the time of harvest. Clusters are harvested by hand and then de-stemmed before separate vinification of each vineyard. After a gentle crush, alcoholic fermentation takes place temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks with daily pumping over. After malolactic fermentation, the wine will stay in stainless steel until bottling.
Maturation: 6 months in stainless steel
Marketing Materials:
Varietal/Blend: Nebbiolo
Vineyard Area: From 2.5 hectares of vines in Gavarini Chiniera — vines are an average age 35+ years.
Soil: Moderately loose-packed clayey limestone-based soils
Elevation: 1,150-1,310 feet
Exposure: South
Vine Training Method: Guyot
Vinification: After being harvested by hand, grapes are de-stemmed and placed in stainless steel vats where they are gently crushed before a cold maceration of up to 2 months. Daily pump-overs are employed during alcohol fermentation and once the malolactic fermentation is complete, the wine is moved to 25-hectoliter Slavonian oak botti.
Maturation: 2 years in botti and another 8-10 months in bottle before release
Marketing Materials:
Varietal/Blend: Nebbiolo
Vineyard Area: From 3 hectares of vines in Ginestra Casa Matè — vines are an average of 40 years.
Soil: Moderately loose-packed clayey limestone-based soils
Elevation: 980-1,150 feet
Exposure: South
Vine Training Method: Guyot
Vinification: After being harvested by hand, grapes are de-stemmed and placed in stainless steel vats where they are gently crushed before a cold maceration of up to 2 months. Daily pump-overs are employed during alcohol fermentation and once the malolactic fermentation is complete, the wine is moved to 25-hectoliter Slavonian oak botti.
Maturation: 2 years in botti and another 8-10 months in bottle before release
Marketing Materials:
Varietal/Blend: Nebbiolo
Vineyard Area: Just below the Grasso cellar is a lower elevation block of Gavarini Chiniera called Rüncot. Vines are an average of 30 years old. When yields are low and the vintage is exceptional, Gianluca Grasso will make Rüncot. The decision to make this Barolo Riserva is made around the time of green harvest.
Soil: Moderately loose-packed clayey limestone-based soils
Elevation: 980-1,150 feet
Exposure: South
Vine Training Method: Guyot
Vinification: Rüncot is only made in exceptional vintages when phenolic maturity is near 100%. The grapes are harvested by hand. After de-stemming, the grapes undergo a cold maceration of up to 2 months. Alcoholic fermentation occurs in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks with daily pumping over. Once malolactic fermentation is complete, the wine is moved to barriques.
Maturation: 4 years in new barriques and another 18-24 months in bottle before release
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