Poderi Colla - 'Drago', Nebbiolo d'Alba, Piedmont, Italy (2022)

TASTING NOTES

Aromatic and elegant with redcurrant, strawberry and some spicy, smoky notes. Complex and elegant with vibrant acidity, firm, but not assertive tannins and persistent aromatics.

Produced from Nebbiolo grapes cultivated in Poderi Colla's Cascine Drago estate in the Alba DOC region. The vineyards are around 350m above sea level. The vines in the Pian Bosco vineyard were planted in 1967 and those in the Luino vineyard were planted in 1989. Vine density is around 4,000 plants per hectare and the average annual yield is 5,000 litres per hectare. Harvesting is usually done in early October.

The hand-picked Nebbiolo grapes are placed in small baskets and taken to the winery where they are de-stalked and softly pressed. The grapes are then macerated on the skins for 10 to 12 days at a controlled temperature of around 28 to 30 degrees Centigrade. This is followed by a malolactic fermentation which is completed before the winter. The wine is matured in some Slavonian and some French oak casks, partly new, for 8 to 12 months.

Established in 1993 by Tino Colla (brother of the legendry Beppe Colla) and his niece Federica, Poderi Colla is very much a family affair and continues the Colla family's three centuries of winemaking heritage in northern Italy.

Tino and Federica believe in a non-interventionist approach to winemaking, to give each wine a unique expression of site and vintage, and they take sustainability and the environment as seriously as their wines.

They produce wines from three outstanding sites in Alba and cover nearly the entire spectrum of Alba styles - using their own grapes from vineyards in Bricco del Drago, Tenuta Roncaglie (Barbaresco) and Tenuta Dardi le Rose (Barolo). The wines are balanced, rich and complex.