2010 Brezza Cannubi Barolo

We got a windfall of green tomatoes from our friend Laurie and my husband looked around for a recipe that uses green tomatoes. He found a recipe at the New York Times which called for lamb chops. He made it a few nights ago and made a side of Israeli couscous. He brought out this 2010 Brezza Cannubi Barolo which our friends gave us to pair with the lamb. The barolo was the perfect pairing with notes of dried cherries, raspberries and spice.
Per my usual modus operandi, I looked on the Internet to find out more about this delicious wine. The Brezza Estate is located in Langhe in northwestern Italy, and extends over 31 hectares, of which 20 are vineyards, some dating back to 1885.¹
The property has taken its name from Giacomo Brezza, who with his father Antonio produced their first bottle in 1910. They are now in their fourth generation of growing grapes and making wine. Their annual production is approximately 100,000 bottles of wine made from local varietals including Dolcetto, Freisa, Barbera, and Nebbiolo.
The grapes are harvested in October, carefully hand selected in the vineyards and then transported to the winery in small plastic baskets. At the winery, the grapes are destemmed and put into temperature controlled stainless steel tanks where fermentation takes between 7-8 days with frequent pumpovers. The wine is then racked and put into cement vats to undergo malolactic fermentation (MLF). After the MLF is completed, the wine is moved into Slovian oak barrels where they will remain for 2 years. The final step is bottling, where the wine will spend 1 year in the bottles and then finally be ready for sale. Only 9,000 bottles of Cannubi Barolo is produced. The bottle we received from our friends is number 2680!

References:
1. Brezza.