2021 Pio Cesare L'Altro Chardonnay

The grapes for L'Altro come from various vineyards owned by the family. They are the vineyards “Il Bricco” in Treiso from the Barbaresco region, "Bossania" in Trezzo Tinella and "Colombaro" in the Barolo area near Serralunga d'Alba. After harvesting, the grapes are fermented in stainless steel vats under controlled temperature. Ripening of the juice is done separately. The small portion of Sauvignon matures in stainless steel barrels and the Chardonnay matures in barriques for a short period, after which the base wines are blended. L'Altro is Italian for 'the other'. The winery named this wine "L'Altro" to distinguish it from their first Chardonnay ever produced, Piodilei.

The Langhe L'Altro has a bright straw yellow color in the glass with fine citrus, butter, honey and peach, nectarine, delicious yellow fruit in the nose. In the mouth, this wine is elegant and juicy, at the same time beautifully powerful and rich, ripe , small butter of the chardonnay, lively and invigorating. Excellent with fish dishes, sole with butter sauce, mussels, chicken, salads and of course perfect as an aperitif.

Fact: Chardonnay from the high part of Piemonte are becoming increasingly popular. The wines always have a good freshness and in terms of price comparison, they are recommended. Montaribaldi 's Stissa is also a good example.

ABOUT PIO CESARE

The house of Pio Cesare is one of the classic producers of the region. Located in Alba, the 'wine capital' of this region, and founded in 1881 by Cesare Pio. His name has been retained in reverse order as the name of this trading house and family business. It is still in family hands, because it is headed by Pio Boffa, the great-grandson of the founder. He continues the work of the family in an excellent way, and in the meantime he is also responsible for a number of modernizations and changes at this fine, traditional company. For example, Pio Cesare has always been a trading house, which contracted the grapes from wine growers in the region. This is also a common practice in this region, which has many small winegrowers with small plots of vineyard, who are always willing to sell their grapes to one of the trading houses. In that respect, the region is a bit like Burgundy, with all those different vineyards, each with its own name, divided into small pieces of vineyard, all of which are owned by a different winegrower.

Pio Boffa has decided that it is a good thing for the quality of the wines to own vineyards. Over the years, he has therefore purchased a number of vineyards, especially in the famous areas of Barolo and Barbaresco. The vineyard property is now 45 hectares in size, and produces some of the house's finest wines, with a few separate vineyard cuvées as the highlights. These are only marketed in the good years.

The necessary changes have also been made in winemaking. A very restrained vinification has been chosen, in which the wine is left alone as much as possible, so with as few interventions as possible. Each wine receives the individual treatment that best suits that particular wine, with a shorter or longer fermentation on the skins, whether or not followed by a classic aging in Slavonian oak, the traditional wood of the region. It produces wines with a classic finesse, balanced and complex, worthy representatives of this special wine region.