It’s often written that a winery is “perched” somewhere, but in the case of Giovanni Manzone, which celebrates its 100th year of existence in 2025, “perched” is an accurate descriptor of their location. For five generations, the Manzones have been farming 8.5 hectares on the steep hills of Castelletto and Gramolere, in the Langhe’S Monforte d’Alba area of Piedmont.
The current generation of Manzoni winegrowers is led by Mauro Manzone (with whom I recently had a Zoom tasting to sample their most recent releases), whose great grandfather started up the operation after World War I. Mauro describes their location as “at the top of the hill” which, as you can tell form the inset pic, is about as spot-on of a description as you could hope to have. According to him, it was a difficult decision for his father Giovanni to remain in the region in the 60s and `70s, when the area was economically depressed and the fiscal future of any regional wine business was anything but guaranteed. Giovanni was not only able to keep the family business afloat, but also modernized and mechanized significant parts of the operation (including purchasing his beloved Lamborghini tractor) to reduce labor needs and increase quality.
In the 1990s, they “were very lucky” to get their wines introduced into the USA market. “I was a kid watching my father making a few trips” to the States, Mauro reminisced; he recalled seeing pictures of Wall Street and the beautiful restaurants that his father got to visit.
Today, aside from the global wine market being in the dumps, the Manzone family see climate change as the next big challenge to their business. Mauro noted that they focus on building resilience in their vines, because climate change is driving more extreme variations in weather (such as very dry seasons followed by very wet ones), making it difficult to get consistently high quality grapes (particularly in skin development). Healthier vines have an easier time responding to the stressors.
Mauro indicated that their winemaking approach hasn’t changed all that much since his grandfather’s time in the cellar. Without filtering or fining, “it’s a kind of an Old School style,” he noted. “We don’t hurry up too much to bottle.”
To beat this “top of the hill” thing into the ground a bit more than is necessary, aside from rising above some serious challenges over five generations, the Manzone clan can also boast to being one of the top producers of artisanal Barolo at the moment, particularly when it comes to their stellar 100th anniversary bottling (more on that in a minute or two)…
Giovanni Manzone, Langhe Nebbiolo Il Crutin 2023, $20
This vintage marks the 25th anniversary of this label, which according to Mauro “is the introduction” to their style. “It’s young, but beautiful, fresh, and juicy.” It’s aged only for a few months in large oak casks, and a year in bottle (“We want a fresh, low alcohol, approachable style”). The “Crutin” refers to an historical house in Gramolere, which has belonged to the Manzone family since 2001 (in the Piedmontese dialect, “Crutin” refers to a small, hand-carved stone cellar carved used for storage of food and wine). Roses, earth, cherry skin, wet stone, and juicy red plums mark the appealing nose. The palate has hints of floral spices, citrus peel, leather, and funk, but is dominated by an irresistibly fresh cherry and plum fruit profile, with the floral notes continuing on a vibrant and VERY long finish. It’s almost impossible not to want another sip of this. Delicious.
Giovanni Manzone, Barolo Castelletto 2020, $46
This Barolo is sourced from a single vineyard situated “a few steps from the winery” as Mauro put it, consisting of just one hectare in Castelletto. The vineyard was replanted in 1999, with east-southeast exposire on clay and calcareous soils. The steep slope of the hill means the operation is entirely manual. It sees about 3 years of aging in neutral oak casks, followed by a few months in concrete. This label has been produced since the early `60s, and Mauro cited the 2020 version as an “elegant vintage with ripe, approachable, beautiful tannins.” Raspberry, tobacco, dried rose petals, leather, and earth all show up on the nose. The palate is fresh as a daisy, structured, with more dried florals, slight baking spice notes, a hint of dried mint, and incredibly juicy wild red berry fruits. It all evolves into stewed plums on the finish. It’s a helluva wine for the money, and a great way to convert someone over to Barolo if, for some bizarre reason, they don’t already love it.
Giovanni Manzone, Barolo Bricat 2019, $70
Exposure in this vineyard is southwest, with calcareous and sandy soils layered with red clay, located 600 meters from the winery. The soil is rocky and “very poor, but very good for Nebbiolo,” noted Mauro. From the get-go, this is much darker than the Castelletto. It’s savory/balsamic, with wild blackberry, blueberries, cocoa, and toasted nut action. The fruit on the palate trends red, but has a lot of depth, almost matching its intense freshness. The length is outstanding: meaty, spicy, and sinewy. The structure is powerful but remains tamed. With stew, game, or roast meat, this is gonna be a total knockout experience.
Giovanni Manzone, Barolo 2009 Riserva Cento Anni, $NA
For the 100th anniversary reserve bottling, they went all out; this is aged in neutral oak barrels for 84 months before transfer to concrete tanks for a further 60 months. HOLY SH*T! Only just released, Mauro is pretty proud of this one (“We really believe it’s something special”). The source vineyard is a section of Gramolere, with poor, calcareous soils that they believe Nebbiolo loves. They’re right. I had this poured a good three hours before I tasted it. Savory, with red licorice, dried mint, dried rose petal, black cherry skin, cedar, graphite, tobacco, and leather, the nose is complex AF. The palate is phenomenal: fresh, powerful, focused, intense but also light on its feet. Cherry, cocoa, fennel, toasted walnut, and an almost liqueur-like hint on an extremely long (and quite toasty) finish. It’s f*cking dynamite.
Cheers!