Colombera & Garella Rosso 'Vispavola' 2019

At 350-400 meters, Bramaterra and Lessona’s soils are distinctly acidic, quite different from Barolo and Barbaresco’s basic soils. These acidic soils produce wine with lower alcohol than you find nowadays in the Langhe, and give the wines a ferrous, sanguine minerality. These are wines whose structure seems to come from minerality (as slippery as that word can be) more than from tannins.

Just as in other great growing areas with varied soil, one can immediately taste the difference between Bramaterra and Lessona: Bramaterra’s volcanic soil is composed of crumbly red-brown rocks made from porphytic sand crystals. These wines have a muscular fruit, and a deep, chiseled minerality. There’s something rough yet charming around the mineral edges, sort of like approaching papà Carlo in the vineyards when he gives a bear hug.