Altare Elio

Elio Altare was (and continues to be) one of the leading figures of the modernist movement in Barolo. Not only did Altare make some of the most groundbreaking wines in Piedmont, he also inspired a whole generation of younger producers to estate-bottle their wines rather than selling their fruit and/or wine to the region’s large bottlers.

By the late 1980s Altare’s approach was already well-defined. Fermentations were a then-shocking three and half to five days long, with manual pumpovers and punchdowns. The Barolos were racked into steel for the malolactic fermentations and then aged in French oak barrels, of which roughly 30% were new. One of the distinguishing aspects of Altare’s approach compared to that of his contemporaries is his preference for carrying out the malolactic fermentations in steel for his Barolos (as is common in Bordeaux) rather than in oak (as is the norm in Burgundy), which Altare believes yields wines that retain freshness and age more gracefully.

Elio owns 10 hectares, planted in the ratio 40 percent Nebbiolo, 30 percent Dolcetto, 25 percent Barbera and 5 percent Cabernet Sauvignon. The best of the local vineyards each comprise their own amphitheater, south or south-east facing slopes at 280 meters above sea level on a sandy, tufaceous, marly soil. Elio Altare has vines in two of those: 1.5 ha of 50-plus year old vines in Arborina, and a small parcel in Brunate which he started renting in 1995.
These vines are pruned very severely. Altare wants no more than 1.5 kilos of grapes per vine., And there are merely 5500 vines per hectare.

This is the real key, Altare maintains, plus an organic approach to viticulture. "You can't make great wine without concentrated fruit."