Petterino Gattinara Riserva (Yellow Label) 2010

Petterino owns just 2½ hectares of vineyards amongst just seven parcels, but the location of each parcel is what helps set this tiny winery apart. At this tiny little boutique winery, home to some of the absolute top parcels of Gattinara’s top cru vineyards, is where some of the best Nebbiolo is made. Anywhere.

After my tasting at Per Se – and the overwhelming response from the Nicholas Faithful, I went back to the brothers and begged them to release enough more to feature as one of my Wines of the Year. “We’d love to, but there’s simply not enough wine, Nicholas.”

Dejected, I thanked them. But then I heard Marco in the background say something to the tune of, “Riserva. Cosa pensi a riguardo?”

Here’s where it gets very interesting. Most years, they usually have one vintage aging in different vessels with some in wood, others in steel. Each of their botti are large but different botti have different personalities and age differently. When tasting through the vessels prior to bottling the 2010, there were a few botti that stood out. These were the special ones.

Not sure what to do with them, they were just set aside. When the brothers finally came back to bottle them – they qualified as Riservas and were labeled as such. But they were never released. Until now.

Think of this as like choosing the top one or two barrels from what is already a grand cru vineyard from arguably the greatest ever Piedmont vintage in 2010.

The aromatics are so intense and noteworthy, that I was reluctant to even take a sip. Of course, I eventually relented. This wine is all class and harmony and I imagine more universally appealing than most cru Barolo. Despite the decade of age, this bottle has another decade ahead of it.