Reverdito, Nebbiolo Langhe Simane 2020

Michele uses no herbicides opting to plant a selection of beans and grasses between the vines to hold water and use as a green fertilizer and sexual confusion instead of useing insecticides. When I visited in 2019 he had all but removed all his oak barriques and was using a mix of tonneau 400-500lts and large oak vats -Botte- between 4000-5000lts so as not to add so much tannin to the wines.

Michele Reverdito is what they call a rising star winemaker in Barolo. His winery is based in La Morra, a hill town that sits high above Barolo. Michele Reverdito works with two acres of Dolcetto d'Alba, two of Barbera d'Alba, five of Lange Nebbiolo and eighteen acres of Barolo, all stretching along the steep road to Verduno in the villages of La Morra and Serralunga d'Alba. Farming is sustainable, which for this estate bans the use of all herbicides, pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Only traditional copper and sulfur are used sparingly to prevent mildew. Michele prides himself on using traditional, old school, methods to make his wines. These include hand-harvesting and sorting, the use of wild yeasts and 4,000 liter barrels to age the wines with the more recent introduction of clay amphoras for Langhe Nascetta and Verduno Pelaverga. The wines here just get better and better, and the estate increases little by little as Michele and Sabina Reverdito take advantage of their young vigneron status to plant/acquire more land. They have bought (respectively) 0.36 hectares and 0.125 hectares of the La Serra vineyard in La Morra, immediately below Roberto Voerzio's vines. South facing and splendid. Michele's first vintage was in 2000: until that year, his father had always sold his grapes to neighbours he considered himself a farmer and not a winemaker. Now they have 20 hectares of vineyards, at altitudes of between 300 and 420 metres. The age of the vines ranges between six and thirty years. The principal varietal is Nebbiolo, but there is also Dolcetto, Barbera and Verduno Pelaverga. The soils are a mixture of limestone, sand, and limestone & clay. Michele has planted twenty seven different varieties of grasses in the rows, to increase the nitrogen content of the soil when they are ploughed back in. Dante Scaglione is now their consultant oenologist.