The Producer
Elio Altare is one of Italy’s greatest and most innovative winemaking estates. Over the years, they’ve been the subject of controversy and criticism in the wine community, as many didn’t welcome their radically different winemaking style at first. However, like all true innovators, Elio didn’t allow critics or skeptics to deter him from his vision. He continued to fight for what he believed in, to make wines the way he felt they’d best express themselves. Today, Elio Altare produces some of the finest wines to come out of Piedmont, and all of Italy for that matter, and despite the copycats who’ve tried to emulate their style over the years, the wines which they produce are unlike wines made by any other estate.
In 1848 the Altare family moved from their hometown of Dogliani to an estate in La Morra filled with peach, hazelnut, and apple trees, and of course vineyards. Like most vineyard owners those days, they sold the majority of their grapes to the large Barolo houses, and kept just a small amount for themselves to bottle for personal consumption. Elio was born in 1950, and began helping out around the farm at a young age. Those days everything was done by hand, no exceptions, and the work was brutally difficult. By the time Elio was a teenager, he and his father didn’t see eye to eye when it came to decisions in the vineyards or cellars. Elio had a vision, he wanted to improve the quality of wine and the quality of life for grape growers in the region. In 1976, he and some of his friends took a trip to Burgundy to pursue this vision and learn more about quality winemaking. This trip, changed winemaking in Piedmont forever.
When Elio returned from Burgundy, he began to implement some of the things he learned during his trip. He began green harvesting in the vineyards, which was essentially unheard of in Langhe at the time, and wanted to make drastic changes in the cellar, but his father wouldn’t allow it. At the time, the Altare’s were using harsh chemical treatments in the vineyards, as were nearly all the farms in the Langhe. During that time, persuasive, opportunistic salespeople coerced the majority of farms to use these chemicals. They told farmers how they could benefit their farm in countless different ways. However, eventually, Elio began to notice the vines along with all plant life, and insects were dying. He had the soil analyzed by the University of Turin, who found that the land had become completely sterile due to the use of these harsh chemicals. They suggested ceasing all chemical treatments immediately, however, Elio’s father was reluctant to do so. In 1979 Elio was hospitalized for some time, when he suffered severe intoxication from the pesticides his father sprayed on their fruit trees. Over the next few years, he and his father argued about their use constantly, until in 1983 things reached a breaking point. Elio took a chainsaw to the fruit trees and old wooden tanks in the cellar to make room from brand new barriques. This was the start of a winemaking revolution in Langhe amongst young, ambitious producers in Langhe, who demanded change and wanted to embrace new winemaking methods, one of the leading torchbearers of this revolution was Elio Altare. Elio’s father passed away two years later, and due to their conflicts over the years, Elio was disinherited. He took out a mortgage to buy the farm from his sisters, and continued to produce wine in the style he had envisioned.
Over the years, Elio and his friends returned to France regularly to learn more about quality winemaking. During this time there was a harsh division amongst winemakers in Langhe, those who were rebellious and began experimenting with radically different winemaking techniques, such as green harvesting, using barriques, drastically shortened maceration times etc. and those who firmly believed in continuing to make wines the way that they always had for generations. These groups, at the time, were often referred to as traditionalists or modernists, and both sides strongly opposed the other side’s ways. Today, Elio like many others despise this term, and rightfully so. It’s impossible to put Elio Altare’s wines in either category, and that’s true for nearly all producers today, being that everyone has embraced at least some new methods over the years. What we will say, is that Elio’s actions, along with the actions of a handful of other winemakers in Langhe forever changed winemaking there and perhaps throughout the entire country.
Today the winery is run by Elio’s daughter, Silvia, who continues producing wine just as Elio had with meticulous attention to detail. It probably goes without saying, but Elio Altare’s vines aren’t treated with any chemicals or pesticides. Wines are made by allowing alcoholic fermentation to occur spontaneously, and are never inoculated with yeasts. For Barolo, rotary fermentors are used for the first 3 or 4 days during maceration, while the wine is still fermenting it’s racked into barriques 20- 30% of which is new (the rest are up to 8 years old), fermentation finishes in barriques, and the wines are then aged in barriques for 2 years. All wines have just minimal amounts of sulfur added prior to bottling, and none of the wines are filtered or fined.
Technical Info
Comune: La Morra and Monforte Province: Cuneo Region: Piedmont Sun Exposure: Southeast and East Varietal Composition: 100% Nebbiolo Vine Age: 20- 50 years old Vinification: Maceration on the skins for approximately 3 or 4 days in rotary fermentors with temperature control Aging: In used French barriques for 5 or 6 months
Tasting Notes
Appearance: Ruby red
Aromas: Raspberries, licorice, and maraschino cherries initially. After being open for around 2 hours, roses, wet earth, crushed cherries, tar, along with some leather, peonies, and a hint of licorice and anise. The aromas of maraschino cherries initially present when the wine was first opened dissipated entirely, and the aromas of licorice faded.
Palate: Crushed cherries, new leather, licorice, and red rose petals. Vibrant acidity, with ultra fine grained, forward, but well integrated tannins. Very persistent finish. Silky mouthfeel.
Notes: Delicious upon opening, but improved a great deal after being open for 1.5- 2 hours. Normally, we don’t like to use the term “baby Barolo”, when referring to Langhe Nebbiolo. In our opinion they’re generally 2 very different wines, and many, although enjoyable, fall short of this comparison. However, in our opinion, this wine in many ways is quite baby Barolo like. It’s much younger than a Barolo, and is a bit lighter, less structured, less complex, easier drinking, and more approachable than many young Barolo. However, it’s still quite serious, complex, and possesses all the right qualities to deliver even greater drinking pleasure in years to come as it develops in the bottle. A truly extraordinary Nebbiolo Langhe, and one of our favorites that we’ve tried. If this wine is any indication of what Elio Altare’s 2020 Barolo will be like when they’re released, we definitely have something very special to look forward to. Delicious now, but we suspect it will age beautifully, and deliver even greater drinking pleasure after it has approximately another 5 years to rest in bottle. We tucked a few more of these away in our Whynter Wine Refrigerator, and look forward to checking in on them over the next few years to see how they’re drinking.
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