Giuseppe Rinaldi, Barolo Brunate Le Coste 2004

Giuseppe Rinaldi strongly represents traditional views on winemaking that have brought the winery into conflict with the Barolo consortium. Most significantly, the estate has always maintained that the best wines from Barolo have always been blends from multiple sites rather than the currently fashionable single-vineyard expression. Rinaldi’s most prominent wines were blends from Brunate and Le Coste, and the Cannubi and Ravera vineyards respectively and were labeled as such. However, Italian law passed in 2009 restricted that at least 85 percent of the fruit had to come from the named vineyard. Giuseppe Rinaldi opposed the changes. As a result of the law, Rinaldi is now making two new wines from the 2010 vintage: Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate, which uses the maximum 15% fruit from the Le Coste vineyard, and Tre Tine, a blend of grapes from Le Coste, Cannubi and Ravera. Rinaldi has avoided ‘new world’ trends such as the use of French barriques and shorter fermentation times. As a result, the wines require significant cellaring to mature their high tannins.