Giuseppe Rinaldi, Langhe Freisa 2017

Giuseppe Rinaldi is an Italian producer in the Piedmonte sub-region of Barolo. They represent some of the most revered and valuable wines from Italy in Nebbiolo. The Rinaldi family has generations of wine-related history in the region, originally selling grapes to the pioneering Falletti family. In 1870, the Rinaldi family bought a vineyard, but Giuseppe Rinaldi wanted to go it alone and in the 1920s bought his own land with some of the best locations in Barolo. Rinaldi’s grandson, also Giuseppe, took over Giuseppe’s estate in 1992. Rinaldi died in 2018 and is still run today by his descendants and still produces some of the most sought-after wines in Italy. Strongly traditional winemaking has always been the mainstay of Giuseppe Rinaldi and this has brought the winery into conflict with the Barolo consortium. Rinaldi has always maintained that the best wines from Barolo have always been blends from multiple locations. Rinaldi’s most popular wines were blended from Brunate and Le Coste, and the Cannubi and Ravera vineyards respectively, and were labeled as such on the bottle. However, in 2009, the Italian government decided that at least 85 percent of the grapes had to come from the named vineyard. Giuseppe Rinaldi opposed these 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 stuck to the traditional, avoiding the use of French barriques and shorter fermentation times. As a result, the wines require significant cellaring to mature their high tannins. Therefore, you will often find that Barolo made using Giuseppe Rinaldi’s production methods is a wine that requires long aging in the bottle.