Negretti Barolo Rive 2020

Normally $90, today $42.95! From the fantastic, easy-to-drink ‘20 vintage, made by our friends at Negretti – we absolutely love these wines! With a price like that, who wouldn’t?!

We’re long-time fans of all things Negretti – now two decades into making their own wines from the incredible La Morra section of Barolo’s Piedmonte – and their wines simply get better every single year! This single cru bottling of their holding in Rive is remarkable! 94 points and one of the most elegant and perfumed examples of Barolo we’ve found yet!

Brothers Massimo and Ezio Negretti own prime stretches of vineyard in Roddi, La Morra, and Monforte, and make powerful, classically-styled, ageable wines from their winery near La Morra. The Negretti family’s roots have always been firmly set in their passion for wine, and while the winery has only been around since 2002, Massimo and Ezio make strictly traditional wines that preserve the practices of their ancestors. Today, and particularly in Barolo’s recent stretch of warmer-than-normal vintages, La Morra has become known for producing powerful, extracted, and concentrated wines, yet Negretti manages to maintain the sort of ethereal delicacy here that stands apart for its purity and class.

The grapes undergo a cold soak prior to fermentation – which allows for the extraction of color without pulling additional tannin – something that really translates nicely to the final product. The wine is deeply ruby and full, but the tannins are soft and velvety, without the astringency to the tannins that are so often found in young cru Barolo. As such, the wine is accessible and approachable even in its youth, albeit with plenty of acidity and structure integrated within to develop over the next decade. The core of the wine is polished and complex, with red cherries, rose petals, raspberries, and orange peel – accentuated by spice notes such as cinnamon, clove, and cedar. Now nearly 5 years young, the wine has really hit its stride and will remain on this elevated plateau for years to come. This is a prime value, cru Barolo that seriously over-delivers – and all without requiring further patience and cellaring on your part!

PAIRING IDEAS: It’s summer, aka fancy salad season in my household, and this beautiful beast of a Barolo deserves a fragrant and enticing steak and gorgonzola salad, packed with spring greens, figs, avocado, pickled red onions, and radishes, with a luscious red wine vinaigrette.