Barbaresco, Vanotu, Pelissero 2020
Ian D'Agata 94; Wine Spectator 93; JancisRobinson.com 89; Gold and Critics' Choice, Sommelier Wine Awards 2025; Top 100, Wine Merchant 2025
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Why this wine
Vanotu sits where Treiso, Barbaresco and Neive meet, facing due south near the top of the hill, which in Barbaresco is where the aromatics come from. Twenty months in mostly new barriques makes a polished wine rather than an austere one. It is the family's best site and they treat it accordingly.
At a glance
- Grape
- Nebbiolo
- Region
- Piedmont, Italy
- Alcohol
- 14.50%
- Body
- Full
- Acidity
- High
- Tannins
- High
- Sweetness
- Dry
- Drink
- Long (10-20 yrs)
- Pairs with
- Red Meat, Cheese, Pasta
How it tastes
Raspberry and cherry, lifted by rose, sage, mint and thyme. Velvety in texture and full-bodied, with sweet, finely worked tannins and a finish that keeps going. Nebbiolo 100%.
The producer
The Pelissero family have farmed in the Langhe for generations from Treiso, in the heart of the Barbaresco DOCG; Luigi Pelissero first bottled the estate wines in 1960 and his son Giorgio, an oenologist, now works the 42 hectares of sandstone and blue marl, cultivated sustainably and certified by SQNPI. Vanotu is the most prestigious of their vineyards, named with the Piedmontese diminutive of Giovanni, Giorgio's grandfather and its previous owner; it produced its first wines in 1960, was replanted in 1964, and lies between 300 and 350 metres facing due south on the border of all three Barbaresco municipalities, Treiso, Barbaresco and Neive, well ventilated near the top of the hillside and particularly rich in limestone. The wine was vinified under controlled temperature with wild and selected yeasts, then aged 20 to 22 months in barriques, 80% of them new, followed by nine months in bottle. The 2020 season opened mild and dry, was slowed by rain through May and June that restocked the soil's water reserves, and was made by a mild, dry September that carried the fruit to perfect ripeness.
Food and drinking
Serve at 16 to 18°C. It takes braised beef, roast duck, veal with porcini, tajarin with butter and sage, and aged Castelmagno or Parmigiano. Drinking now and over the next five to ten years; give it an hour in a decanter. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.