2019 Giordano - Barbaresco Asili (1.5L)

Luigi Giordano is a small, traditional family winery a stone’s throw from Barbaresco’s village center. Giovanni Giordano founded it in the 1930s, and his son Luigi made the bold move to bottle the family’s own wine in 1958, long before most Barbaresco growers did. Today his daughters and grandson Matteo carry on a gentle, classic style built on light extraction and aging in large Slavonian oak. Asili is perhaps Barbaresco’s most celebrated cru, and Giordano farms a half-hectare in a single block right in the middle of its amphitheater, alongside Gaja. The 2019, from a structured, classic vintage, is layered with red cherry, berries and warm spice, plus fresh earth, wild herbs, dried flowers, a touch of iron, leather and licorice, all on a medium-bodied, beautifully built frame. In magnum it’s just hitting its stride, with a long life ahead. A showstopper for the holiday table with braised short ribs, roast lamb or agnolotti.