Ellena Giuseppe

Matteo Ellena is one of a new generation of budding star winemakers in Piedmont. With stints as an assistant with legends Elio Altare and Giacomo Bologna, Matteo combines the best of what the "Modernist's" and "Traditionalist's" have taught him. His winery, located in La Morra, has been in production since 1966. The 15 hectare estate has 4 hectares planted with vines and 8 planted to hazelnuts, the balance is woodlands.

Viticulture is traditional with the exception of a strict green harvest, which lowers the yields in all of the vineyards. Vineyard management follows the rule of integrated agriculture, which limits the use of synthetic chemicals, minimizing any environmental impact. Matteo prefers native yeast ferments and restrained use of new barrique. This young winemaker is producing some of the most outstanding values in Piedmont.

Barbera d'Alba

Barbera rarely is taken seriously by the majority of the wine trade, and this is sad. When at its best and can be full of intense fruit and tannin all the while having bright acidity to keep it refreshing. It is one of the few grapes in Piedmont that can also take a fair bit of oak and still remain true to itself. Matteo had learned two different schools of thought with Barbera working with Giacomo Bologna (classic) and Elio Altare (modern). His Barbera, in style, slides in between the two leaning a bit to the classic. Matteo describes Barbera as ‘friendly’ and it’s a wine that is best shared with others.

The Barbera hails from a single vineyard, aptly named ‘Paradiso’, situated at 650 feet in elevation, located in the La Morra area of Piedmont. Whereas many Barberas will get hammered with oak, often time in new oak, Matteo is wanting to show the freshness and varietal character of Barbera though the use of a majority stainless steel. The grapes are picked at optimum ripeness and entirely destemmed. The juice sits on skins for a week and fermentation occurred with wild yeasts. After a gentle pressing it is transferred back to tank for malolactic fermentation to occur naturally. 20% of the wine then racked into 2nd passage barriques with the remainder staying in tank. After 12 months the lots are blended together and bottled without fining or filtration.

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Barolo del Comune di La Morra

The fruit for the 2018 release again hails primarily from the younger vines off of the ‘Ascheri’ block (planted in 1980), with a bit of the oldest vines as well, on a southwest facing slope at 1,100 feet in elevation. The other block is from ‘Cascina Motturone’ just southwest of Ascheri at 900 feet in elevation on a west facing slope and was initially planted in 1980 along with more recent vines in 2002. Matteo describes 2018 as a challenging vintage with very wet conditions early on and then high heat and humidity during the latter part of the peak growing season.  Thankfully cool, breezy, nights toward harvest came into play really providing a life-preserver for Nebbiolo and the result was a very good vintage with velvety tannins and moderate to higher alcohols than Matteo is accustomed to. While this ‘entry level’ Barolo may appear to be simply that, there is so much more to this wine and it remains one of Barolo’s best values.

The grapes were hand-harvested in late-October with the bunches being destemmed and fermented without any additions in stainless steel vats. Frequent pigeage was employed to gain optimum extraction and the lots spent between 45 and 60 days on skins after which everything was pressed to a combination of used French oak barrique and Slavonian botti. After 24 months of aging with only a single racking during the two years in wood, the wine was racked to tank, blended and bottled without fining or filtration.

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Nascetta Langhe Bianco

Barbera rarely is taken seriously by the majority of the wine trade, and this is sad. When at its best and can be full of intense fruit and tannin all the while having bright acidity to keep it refreshing. It is one of the few grapes in Piedmont that can also take a fair bit of oak and still remain true to itself. Matteo had learned two different schools of thought with Barbera working with Giacomo Bologna (classic) and Elio Altare (modern). His Barbera, in style, slides in between the two leaning a bit to the classic. Matteo describes Barbera as ‘friendly’ and it’s a wine that is best shared with others.

The Barbera hails from a single vineyard, aptly named ‘Paradiso’, situated at 650 feet in elevation, located in the La Morra area of Piedmont. Whereas many Barberas will get hammered with oak, often time in new oak, Matteo is wanting to show the freshness and varietal character of Barbera though the use of a majority stainless steel. The grapes are picked at optimum ripeness and entirely destemmed. The juice sits on skins for a week and fermentation occurred with wild yeasts. After a gentle pressing it is transferred back to tank for malolactic fermentation to occur naturally. 20% of the wine then racked into 2nd passage barriques with the remainder staying in tank. After 12 months the lots are blended together and bottled without fining or filtration.

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Nebbiolo d'Alba

Nebbiolo, the grape fit for kings. Rarely do we see the feminine side of Nebbiolo, which is one with ripe tannis and lush fruit without being overblown. That is certainly the wine here. The Nebbiolo hails from a one-hectare parcel named Motturone, located in La Morra. The vineyard is located between 900-950 feet in altitude and has an afternoon sun/west-facing slope that really firms up the tannins for the younger vine Nebbiolo. 2020 was a warmer-than-average growing season in Piedmont, yet the nighttime averages were quite low. For Nebbiolo, this is key. This late-ripening variety does very well with those big diurnal swings.

The fruit was hand-harvested and the fruit was fermented without any additions in open top tanks. Frequent puchdowns over the course of 7-10 days was employed for maceration and extraction. After 3-4 days post-ferment, the wine was pressed to old French barriques for maturation. One light sulfur addition was added and the barrels were racked to tank to naturally settle. The wine was bottled without fining or filtration and just one more small sulfur addition.

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