Palazzina. Bramaterra Riserva 'Balmi Bioti'

Bramaterra Riserva DOC
Grape: Nebbiolo (70%), Croatina, Uva Rara (10%), Vespolina (10%)

2018:  Clove, tobacco, deep cherry and rich wild herb aromas.  An immense core of vibrant, slightly unhinged power: salt, leather and rich red fruit flavours.  Both mature and youthful tannins.  An extraordinary wine. 13%
Production: 2566 bottles, 50 magnums

2019: Vigorous, strawberry, red cherry, powdered onion and black peppercorn aromas.  An intriguing and powerful wine with a core of pure salt and iron, encircled by ripe red fruit, orange skin and soft leather. The tannins are mildly threatening, a few years will calm them down, this is a great wine.

La Palazzina producer page

Balmi Bioti was introduced in 2015 when Paolo took the opportunity to make a new wine from his Sostegno vineyard, rather than adding the fruit to the existing Bramaterra and changing the character of his ‘Palazzina’.  The land in Sostengo is richer in volcanic matter with an iron-rich vein running in a line through the middle, the wine has a slightly more austere character.

All the work in the vineyard is manual, the grapes are picked by family and friends and de-stemmed prior to a spontaneous fermentation in lined, concrete tanks with regular pumping over* to submerge the cap* for 3 weeks.  The wine is aged in large Slavonian oak barrels for 2 years before bottling without filtration and a minimum addition of sulphites.