Brovia, Roero Arneis, Piedmont, Italy 2021

A perfect encapsulation of Roero Arneis: a mineral spine with notes of stone fruits and citrus define this wine. While much Piedmontese Arneis is decidedly neutral or subject to heavy new oak treatment, Brovia's version gracefully expresses its Roero origins with balance, intensity, length, and concentration.

The sole white wine of the estate is produced in the Roero district from an 0.80 hectare plot in Vezza d’Alba. The soil is essentially sandy in composition and sits at 340 meters altitude on south-facing slopes. The vineyard was planted in 1980. Harvest (manual) normally occurs in mid-September. The grapes are briefly macerated and the fermentation occurs at controlled temperatures (around 15 degrees Celsius) for two to three weeks. The wine rests in stainless steel until the early spring months of the following year and is usually released to the market, after several months of bottle aging, in late summer/early fall.

This estate was founded by Giacinto Brovia in 1863 and is based in the village of Castiglione Falletto. Following a phylloxera scare, the founder's grandsons Giacinto and Raffaele more or less started the business again from scratch in 1953, with the sole objective of producing distinctive, singular Barolo of the highest quality.

To this end, their focus from the outset was on acquiring only the finest vineyard sites within the Barolo municipality (Rocche, Villero, Garblèt Sue) as well as in Serralunga d'Alba (Ca' Mia, Brea). Elena and Cristina Brovia, who took over the reins a few years ago from their father Giacinto, represent the fourth generation of the family business.

In 2018 Elena and her husband Alex Sanchez took over the winery. They make outstanding, traditional Barolos of elegance, pedigree and considerable longevity.