Franchino Gattinara 2021
Long before Barolo and Barbaresco became the international sensations they are today, Gattinara was Piedmont’s Nebbiolo-based calling card, and there isn’t a more authentic modern interpretation than this well-priced rarity from Franchino.
Despite being the most famous of the “Alto Piemonte” (“Upper Piedmont”) wine appellations, the Gattinara DOCG just isn’t very big: At one time, Alto Piemonte was Piedmont’s commercial winemaking epicenter, but a combination of phylloxera, the exodus of workers to industrial jobs in Turin and Milan, and two World Wars all but wiped it all out. Today, the entirety of the Gattinara growing zone covers only about 100 hectares of vineyards. The Franchino estate—run by local legend Mauro Franchino and his nephew, Alberto Raviciotti—has just three of those hectares, and even some of that fruit is sold to others (in a typical year, they bottle less than 30% of their crop).