Date of visit: September 20, 2021
A bit about the winery:
Winegrowers in Langhe since 1856, the Germano’s have always been quality focused, employing innovative practices such as massal selection in their vineyards as early as the 1950s. Ettore Germano produces 5 Barolos all of which are grown in Serralunga d’Alba, 4 of these are single vineyard bottlings and 1 is a blend of the different sites. In addition to their amazing Barolos, they also produce several white and red wines, from both indigenous and international varieties. Sergio Germano who runs the Serralunga d’Alba based winery is the 4th generation of winemakers in his family. Sergio makes wine in a way which allows the grapes and terroir to showcase themselves in their purest form. In addition to all of this, Sergio is one of the kindest and most down to earth winemakers we’ve had the pleasure of meeting first hand.
Our visit:
This was the first winery that we visited during our trip to Langhe last month. We first met Sergio in New York at the first-ever Barolo & Barbaresco World Opening (BBWO) in February 2020. The event featured over 200 Barolo and Barbaresco producers, and for us, Sergio’s 2015 Barolo Cerretta was our favorite wine of the event. We wish we’d written notes about the wine, but sadly we didn’t, as we just began writing about wine as a hobby recently.
At the BBWO we spoke briefly with Sergio about his wine, and agreed to visit him soon in Serralunga d’Alba. In fact, we booked a trip to Langhe shortly after the event, and had a visit to Ettore Germano scheduled, but that was sadly cancelled due to the Covid-19 situation in the world at that time. Needless to say, we’d been looking forward to this visit for a very long time. Sitting in Ettore Germano’s tasting room, overlooking the vines that go into the Barolo Cerretta that we fell in love with 2 years ago, was a very special experience. During our visit, Francesca, who works at Ettore Germano and Sergio, generously gave us the opportunity to taste the majority of Ettore Germano’s wines. Every single wine was nothing short of amazing. In our opinion, what separates a good producer from a truly exceptional producer is that each and every wine that they produce is great, not just their flagship wine(s). Not only were Sergio’s Barolos amazing, every single wine that we tasted was phenomenal.
Some of our favorites were:
2019 Nascetta: We don’t have much experience with Nascetta, because unfortunately it’s pretty rare in the United States (hopefully that changes). Perfectly transparent, glassy golden straw colored appearance with aromas of smoke, earth, cut dry grass, and flowers. The aromas carry over to the palette, and deliver flavors that taste like no other grape we’ve encountered. Silky smooth mouthfeel with a very persistent finish. A grape and wine definitely worth seeking out.
Note: Langhe Nascetta, along with some of Ettore Germano’s other wines, utilize Stelvin Lux closures. We always find it interesting to speak to producers about the closures they use and what drove their decision to choose a particular closure, so we asked Sergio what made him decide to use Stelvin Lux on some of his wines. He explained, before making the decision not long ago to exclusively bottle some of his wines under a Stelvin closure, he did some experimenting over the span of a few years. He selected a few different wines, and bottled a portion of them with Stelvin Lux closures and a portion with cork. He did this for several years and during that time tasted the wines frequently to see how the wines compared, Stelvin vs cork. The conclusion of the experiment was that Sergio felt that Stelvin Lux significantly outperformed cork for what he was looking to achieve on those particular wines, and decided to bottle those wines exclusively with Stelvin Lux going forward. Whenever we see Stelvin or any kind of screw cap being used, we always wonder how that will impact the wine’s cellaring potential. When we asked Sergio about this, he reassured us that you can still cellar these wines for some years if you chose to do so. Stelvin Lux will still allow a small amount of oxygen into the bottle, similar to how a cork would. With that said, it’s important to note that not all of Sergio’s wines utilize Stelvin Lux closures, just a handful of his non-Barolo wines.
2019 Langhe Nebbiolo: As Francesca poured this wine for us, she said, many Langhe Nebbiolo are sometimes referred to as “baby Barolo”, and often times that’s what the winemaker hopes to achieve. We’ve tasted our share of Langhe Nebbiolo over the years, and we happen to agree. We then went on to taste the wine, and we noticed immediately why Francesca has said this. This was not like Langhe Nebbiolo we’ve had in the past, which often times is “baby Barolo-like” in many ways. This was one of the most interesting expressions of Nebbiolo that we’ve tried. Francesca explained to us that Sergio wanted to create a Langhe Nebbiolo which was something more accessible that you can drink today while Barolo ages. The wine doesn’t see any oak at all, and the result is a fruit-forward easy to drink Nebbiolo, which we happen to really enjoy. The wine has a nose quite fruity for Nebbiolo, it has a hint of smoke, some cherry, cooked raspberries and strawberries, all of which carry over to the palette. Although it’s quite light and fruity for Nebbiolo, it’s still distinctively Nebbiolo through and through. For us this is an ideal spring or fall picnic wine.
The Barolos: We’d like to preface this section by stating that we started writing about wines as a hobby only very recently, and this was the first time that we’ve brought a notebook with us to a tasting. With that said, there are some gaps in the below notes on the Barolos we tasted, and we wish that our notes were more detailed. However, we hope that you still enjoy the limited notes that we did take on these 4 extraordinary Barolos.
Sergio produces 5 different Barolos, and we were lucky enough to taste all of them, with the exception of Vigna Rionda. 2017 Barolo Del Comune di Serralunga d’Alba, fruit forward aromas somewhat reminiscent of the Langhe Nebbiolo tasted earlier, but not quite as fruity. Roses, raspberries, strawberries on the nose which carry over to the palette. Ultra fine grinned tannins that are silky and beautifully integrated. Fruit, tannins, and acidity are all nicely balanced. Persistent finish. 2017 Barolo Prapò, WOW. Classic Nebbiolo aromas and flavors, with tar and roses leading the way on the nose. Today this wine is more approachable and accessible in its youth than the already approachable 2017 Barolo Del Comune di Serralunga d’Alba, yet at the same time it’s more structured, and we would guess has the potential to undergo lengthier cellaring. 2017 Barolo Cerretta, tasting the 2017 brought back memories of the 2015 vintage we tasted in Manhattan nearly 2 years ago. More complex and more structured with much more forward tannins than Prapò, but still unbelievably well-balanced. This is a wine that without a doubt can undergo lengthy aging, we’d guess 20+ years, and the result will be a very rewarding one. Finally, 2015 Barolo Riserva Lazzarito, fresh and fruity on the nose, unbelievably silky smooth, with ultra fine tannins that are very well integrated. Sergio explained that this wine spends an additional 2 years in the cellar prior to release, and occasionally sees additional time aging in oak. It also sees longer maceration times of sometimes 60+ days, and grapes are harvested quite late, so the seeds are very mature, this creates a Barolo which has tannins that are extremely mature and well integrated.
Thank you
Thank you, Francesca, and Sergio for your unbelievable hospitality, and for sharing your wines with us. Your wines are truly amazing. We hope that you enjoyed our first of many posts.
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