Introducing Cantine Garrone
by Dixon Brooke
Way up in the northern Italian Alps, near the Swiss border, there is an old trading route across the mountains between these two countries that is thousands of years old. It was used to transport wine, cheese, livestock, and other produce and goods from Italy and the wider Mediterranean (principally through the large and active port of Genoa) north into Switzerland and beyond. Along this steep mountain path, the Cantine Garrone was founded and constructed, circa 1921, growing pergola-trained Nebbiolo, the grape the locals refer to as Prünent. You might expect to find rusticity in a place like this…I certainly did. What I found instead was an uncommonly refined and masterfully vinified red wine, one of the silkiest and most deliciously perfumed Nebbiolos I have ever encountered, patiently matured in large cask. The wonderful surprise was further enhanced by the humility and comfortable wisdom of the Garrone family. Exactly what I had been searching for over many years was hidden in this remote corner of northern Piedmont, waiting intently, jewel-like, to be discovered. Now it is your turn to unlock the secrets of this magical mountain cave that clings to foggy hilltops and nurtures a world-class wine for your table.
2022 Vino Rosso “Munaloss”
Italy | Piedmont
Delicious younger-vine Prünent blended with Croatina produces an immediately enjoyable, low-tannin red of character. Not only is it versatile and mouthwatering but also it helps to preserve the agrarian way of life in this area of Italy by including the fruit of like-minded small farmers in the surrounding mountain valleys who do not bottle their own wine.
2021 Valli Ossolane Nebbiolo Superiore “Prünent”
Italy | Piedmont
A blend of grapes from at least twenty different parcels of the family’s best and oldest vines in the area, matured for two years before bottling, this smooth and noble wine has the depth and structure to pair with venison or other wild game while remaining immediately approachable. There are no rough edges!
The family’s top bottling of Prünent from a single vineyard is aged for an extra year in large cask and has another gear, and many corners and crevices to explore. I am very excited to taste the wine from the other single vineyards that they plan on developing in the future. There is much to watch and be enthusiastic about here.