Prunotto Bric Turot Barbaresco DOCG *NFD*

Immediately upon arrival in the cellar, grapes were destemmed and crushed. Maceration on the skins took place over a period of approximately 10 days at a temperature that did not exceed 30 °C (86 °F). Malolactic fermentation was completed before winter. The wine was aged in oak barrels of varying capacities for about 12 months. Bric Turot was then aged in the bottle for a year before being released.

Alfredo Prunotto founded his business in 1922, and was one of Piemonte’s most dynamic exporters until his retirement in 1956. The company passed then to Prunotto’s friend Beppe Colla, now a revered winemaker and one of the founding fathers of modern Piemonte. His defining moment was the decision in 1961 to bottle single-vineyard, or cru, wines from the finest sites – a practice that is now the norm in the region. Those wines were made from bought-in grapes, but in the 1990s the current owners, the Antinoris of Tuscany, extended the Prunotto holdings, including plots in the outstanding Bric Turot and Bussia vineyards.

The quality of the top wines goes without saying, but the rest of the range is made with equal aplomb. The style is modern without being exaggerated: freshness of aroma and approachability of structure are viewed as positives, but copious new oak is not. Indeed, the only wines that see the inside of a brand new barrique are the outstanding single vineyard Barberas.