Wine Advisor
Conterno Fantino, Barolo Vigna del Gris 2010
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
Red-ruby. Black cherry, menthol and a whiff of candied dark berries on the nose. The palate offers a captivating combination of lush, fine-grained texture and energy, with the black fruit and sweet oak flavors already displaying terrific definition. Finishes juicy and very long, with brisk acidity and smooth tannins that gain power with air.
About the Producer
The Conterno Fantino winery was founded in 1982 by Claudio Conterno and Guido Fantino. Today, we cultivate 27 hectares of vines and produce about 140,000 bottles per year, split into the 4 varietals of Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto and Chardonnay. Through the years, the two founders were joined by Alda, Fabio and Elisa Fantino in various roles. Soon, Noemi and Matteo will join them. In all, during peak times, the winery employs about 10 people. Environmental sustainability, preserving biodiversity, respect of the land and its heritage are the guiding principles in our vineyards, which are organically cultivated (as certified by CCPB). With the goal of further reducing our environmental impact, the 2008 winery expansion utilized various technical improvements with the aim of energy conservation, such as solar panels, a geothermal system and finally, the use of wetland specifically set up for wastewater purification. The Conterno Fantino winery styles its wines with the primary goal of reflecting their own identity: from painstaking manual selection of fruit to harvest by hand using small crates; from preserving the aromas of the vineyard with spontaneous fermentation from indigenous yeasts (no commercial yeast is used here); from the careful use of wood for the ageing of the wines to the minimal use of sulfites, right up to the bottle ageing. This seemingly complex path is the most natural for us. Our wine is the offspring of the land in which the wines are cultivated, and once in the winery must be brought up, step by step, as if it were a member of the family. Our wine is one of us.
