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Ceretto to release four Barolo and Barbaresco crus on La Place de Bordeaux
The line-up for the March edition of La Place de Bordeaux’s twice annual hors Bordeaux series is now becoming clear, with a handful of press releases over the last couple of weeks announcing the new arrivals.
The latest and perhaps the most exciting to date, certainly for lovers of Barolo and Barbaresco, comes from the legendary Ceretto estate.
It had announced the release for the first time of four of its most iconic single-vineyard crus from Barolo and Barbaresco, which it said was “the culmination of a strategy pursued over several years to widen and diversify the global distribution of Ceretto’s Barolos and Barbarescos to wine consumers and collectors.”
“We strongly believe that La Place will strengthen further the awareness of our products that are already present in over 60 countries,” it said in a press release.
The distribution will be wider yet more precisely focussed – that famous ‘capillarity’ that is La Place’s unique competitive advantage over a more conventional distribution system.
The exclusive worldwide distribution is coordinated by Timothée Moreau and his team at Bureau des Grands Vins (BGV).
Ceretto and BGV will draw on the expertise and knowledge of seven of Bordeaux’s leading négociants, each with now considerable hors Bordeaux experience: Joanne Rare Wines, CVBG, Ulysse Cazabonne, Vins & Passions, Crus & Domaines de France, Ginestet and Ballande & Meneret. Together, their task is to commercialise four of the most iconic Barolos and Barbarescos in Asia, Europe (with the exception of Italy), and Southern America.
For distribution via La Place de Bordeaux Ceretto have selected four of its most iconic wines, each a single-vineyard cru: Barolo Brunate from La Morra; Barolo Bricco Rocche from Castiglione Falletto (a monopole); Barolo Cannubi San Lorenzo from Barolo itself; and Barbaresco Bernadot from Treiso. The Barolo Brunate and Bricco Rocche are from the fabulous 2019 vintage; the Barbaresco Bernadot from the no less exceptional 2020 vintage; and the almost mythic Barolo Cannubi San Lorenzo is from 2012.
These are each fabulous wines with a remarkably diaphanous, limpid and crystalline mid-palate that almost seems to defy gravity and that is now, for me, the signature of the very best wines of the region (Bruno Giacosa and Giacomo Conterno are the other classic exponents of this style).
I hope to update this article with full tasting notes of each wine in the next few weeks.
Founded in the Langhe hills in 1937 by Riccardo Ceretto, the estate was amongst the first to understand the potential of local grapes, carefully selecting and acquiring parcels in the most venerable and historically renowned areas. In the process it helped to build and define the concept of the Barolo and Barbaresco cru.
All of its wines are made from grapes produced from its own vineyards, now totalling over 170 hectares, with an approach that it says is “strongly respectful of the environment”, with organic certification for all of its vineyards attained in 2015.
Of its total vineyard holdings, 25 hectares are in the two leading appellations of Barolo and Barbaresco. Here it produces nine crus – six from Barolo and three from Barbaresco.
The first Barolo to be released onto La Place was Michele Chiarlo Barolo Cerequio 2018, in March 2021.
Read more:
Ceretto: the evolution of Barolo & Barbaresco
Barolo to get ‘official’ en primeur from 2024 following second charity auction
La Place de Bordeaux – the new place to be?
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