Secrets to Making Some of the Best Red Wines in the World
When one talks about the best red wines in the world, Barolo will be one of them. Barolo wine comes from Piedmont in Northern Italy, from the area known as the Langhe. This wine region produces many wines, but specializes in wines made with the nebbiolo grape and full bodied red wine like Barolo.
During our latest VeroTalk virtual wine tasting we were up front and close with a person who crafts some of these sought-after red wines, Barolo winemaker Aldo Clerico. We visited him at his winery in Monforte d Alba in the Langhe where he poured us a glass (or six) of his delicious red wines including his Barolo wine and gave us a peek at his life, passion, and farming & winemaking philosophy.
Aldo (right) with his wife, Valentina (left) and his father, in Monforte d’Alba.
Finding the Winemaker Inside
Aldo grew up very lucky, as he says, because his family has owned for generations not just vineyards, but vineyards in one of the most prestigous wine areas in Italy, if not the world, in the Barolo wine region. Aldo remembers taking care of these vines for his whole life, but his family always sold the grapes to other producers… that is until 2004.
Aldo studied accounting in school, and even went to work for an accounting firm for a month. Yes, just one month was enough for Aldo to see his life wasn’t in an office, at a desk, but outside in the vineyard and in the winery. So he began to work around in local wineries, before finally settling in his cousin’s winery, Domenico Clerico. Just a few steps from his home in Monforte d Alba, he could walk to work, and still have time to work in his own vineyards and care for his own vines as well. He quickly concluded that he made the right decision to become a vigneron instead of a desk job.
Then in 2004 he took the leap and opened his own Barolo winery under his name, Aldo Clerico. He started out with only three wines: Dogliani (dolcetto), Barbera d Alba, and a Langhe Nebbiolo wine. Right at the beginning, he couldn’t offer a Barolo wine since it needs years to age. Instead of buying a pre-made Barolo and sticking his label on it, as many start-up wineries do, he decided to wait the several years needed to release his Barolo in his vision.
Over the years, he has added two other single-vineyard Barolos to his lineup, as opportunities presented themselves, such as renting a single vineyard in Serralunga d Alba, or after he married his wife Valentina and being able to buy grapes from her mother’s vineyards in the prestigous Ginestra cru.
When we met with Aldo for our VeroTalk, Aldo and Valentina couldn’t get a babysitter to look after their two young daughters so, unfortunately, we couldn’t also talk with Valentina. To get to know her check out this interview and get her story. But Aldo says they complement each other wonderfully as, it turns out, she loves accounting, having she studied bookkeeping and worked for her family’s winery in the back office. Growing up a wine family has helped her acquire experience and know-how. She likes staying behind the scenes in the office where Aldo doesn’t particularly care to. Sounds like a match made in heaven for a married couple managing their own winery, huh?
The Philosophy Behind the Wine
Aldo working with his father during harvest, hauling out freshly harvested grapes.
As we saw in the VeroTalk, Aldo exudes passion for winemaking when he talks. It is a pleasure to listen as he describes his philosophy about grapes, farming, and winemaking. At the heart, he believes the most important work is done in the vineyard.
As he said, ‘good grapes make good wine.’ If something is wrong with the grape, something will be wrong with the wine, and to save it you have to move towards chemical interventions. This means that most of the work is done in the vineyard, such as removing grape clusters and putting them in the ground to both thin the yields while providing nutrients to the soil.
Similarly, he uses native yeast fermentation because he believes that these naturally occurring yeasts give the most authentic flavor possible. After all, as he said, these are the yeasts and flavors that developed in the vineyard, with the air, soil, and land of the natural grape, and are the flavors most representative of the terroir from with the grape clusters were plucked. He admits though that the climate change impacts have been very challenging, in particular with lack of rain. Fortunately, his area is blessed with fog which allow the plants to get much needed moisture. Despite this, the drought conditions have caused stress on the fruit, and, in particular most recently. when fermenting with his Barbera: the fermentation stopped too soon causing him to add selected yeast to allow for a dry wine, instead of a sweet one.
Another common theme in discussions with Aldo is focused on keeping alive tradition. He still bases a lot of his timing around the lunar calendar, following biodynamic principles, like planning to harvest, rack, or bottle during certain phases of the moon. Or even the name of his vineyards, like those for his classic Barolo, which he still calls by the original names passed down through generations.
Fun Facts about Aldo’s Langhe & Barolo Wines
Aldo and his family make six red monovarietal wines, following the philosophy we talked about above.
What fun facts did we get from our VeroTalk with Aldo about his wines? Let’s break it down, wine by wine.
Here’s Aldo showing off his exceptional red wines at his winery in Monforte d’Alba.
Dogliani DOCG
Made from the dolcetto grape, this wine underwent an important name change a few years ago, from Dolcetto di Dogliani, to simply Dogliani (pronounced DOE-YAA-KNEE), the name of a town where the appellation resides. This was in part because dolcetto in Italian gives the impression of ‘little sweet’, or that this could be a sweet wine, which is not the case. Local winemakers lobbied to remove dolcetto from the denomination to help give this wine more importance.
And get this: Aldo’s Dogliani is a single vineyard wine whose vineyard is right outside the designated Barolo DOCG confines - a mere 15 foot wide road divides it. This underlines the great terroir that is behind Aldo’s Dogliani, a red wine that is suited for every day enjoyment on many occasions: it pairs well with many foods, and it goes down easy, thanks to its natural balance of acidity and tannins. Stainless steel aged, this wine was also fermented with native yeasts for a bright purple color, a plummy nose, and a fruity palate with just a hint of tannins.
Barbera d’Alba
Langhe wine aficionados will know that in addition to the Barbera d’Alba, there is also a Barbera d’Alba Superiore. Aldo’s special secret is that, while this wine is labeled a regular Barbera d’Alba, it is actually made identically to a Barbera d Alba Superiore. He has continued to label it without the ‘Superiore’ title to maintain continuity with early vintages and to keep this wine accessible to all.
Usually an acidic grape, this barbera still maintains the pleasant hallmark acidity of the variety, but without overdoing it. It has a lot of fruit coming through thanks to the nearly year long period spent oak-aging.
Putting icing on the cake, Aldo’s Barbera d Alba is a single vineyard wine whose vineyard is actually inside the designated Barolo winemaking region. Yet, he uses this expensive real estate to grow barbera. This shows Aldo’s commitment to demonstrating the traditions of his home and upbringing, to showcase not only Nebbiolo and Barolo but also other native varieties to the area.
Langhe Nebbiolo
Nebbiolo can be made in several iterations from the King, Barolo wine, to less aged variations such as the Langhe Nebbiolo or a Nebbiolo d’Alba. Most non-Barolo Nebbiolo wine is made from less desirable nebbiolo vineyards.
Barolo winemaker Aldo Clerico with his wife Valentina sharing their combined collaboration, Barolo Ginestra, at a Barolo event in NYC.
Yet the vineyard Aldo uses to make his Langhe Nebbiolo is actually a Barolo vineyard. We asked Aldo, why would he just not make a Barolo with this vineyard? His answer was very practical: first when he started making wine in 2004, he did not want to wait 4 years to have wine to sell. But also it provides the winemaking consumer with an advantage: you can an ‘almost’ Barolo at a much lower price point, making it more accessible for enjoying outside of the special occasions which justify opening a more expensive Barlo wine. Hence we call Aldo’s Langhe Nebbiolo a ‘Baby Barolo.’ With oak aging for over a year which softens the impressive tannins, allowing to create an immediately drinkable and enjoyable nebbiolo wine.
Fun fact: Nebbiolo gets his name from nebbia which means fog, which Aldo had alluded to earlier when talking about recent climate challenges. The fog in the Langhe allows the nebbiolo grape to maximize its potential in wine when grown in its native home in the Langhe.
Barolo DOCG
This Barolo was the ‘first’ he began to produce. It is is actually an assemblage of 5 different vineyards surrounding his home. Each vineyard has a name, Pradotto, Patrichino, Coda Gatto (meaning cat tail), and Tin di Sarot. These names have stuck for generations, for so long that Aldo is not certain of the origins of each name, and with no rhyme or reason as to why they are named as such.
While technically, Aldo could put the Cru (also known in Barolo as MGA, or Menzione Geografica Aggiuntiva) which is Bricco San Pietro, on the label, he chooses not to. It’s his humble down-to-earth approach, just like how he does not label his Barbera d Alba a Superiore.
But it is here that his true winemaking artistry comes through as he blends best of all the five vineyards together, vinifying each separately, knowing that some vineyards make the fruitiest wine, while others the best tannins, etc. Here is the art of assemblage where he makes the ‘just the right’ blend to create, what he feels, is a ‘classic’ style Barolo.
Then we asked what he does with the remainder of the Barolo wine that does not make the cut into the final assemblage. Whatever wine is left over and not blended into the mix is sold to other wineries. Aldo keeps the best for his Barolo.
In this example, it shows the commitment Aldo has to staying small, and the advantages, in terms of quality, that wine drinkers, like us, can benefit from when choosing to drink his wines.
Where Aldo Clerico has his vineyards in and around the Barolo area.
Barolo Serralunga
Serralunga d Alba produces what is known as the most age worthy Barolos from the rest, thanks to having the most ancient soil in the Barolo wine region (read more about this difference in this previous article).
On the label of his single vineyard Serralunga d Alba, which is based in the Cerretta Cru, or MGA, Aldo chooses to represent his loyalty to traditional winemaking techniques like working with the moon. On the label we see the different phases of the moon certain jobs are best performed under, like the old moon when Aldo prefers to bottle, or ther moons where it is better to harvest or prune. A full bodied red wine, it is well structured and with enough tannins that it can age well in your cellar.
Barolo Ginestra
Aldo’s Barolo Ginestra, is another single vineyard Barolo which is from a very small cru, or MGA, which just a handful of families can make since it is such a small area that is in Monforte d Alba, where Aldo’s home and winery is based.
This is Aldo’s favorite wine, because, to him, it represents his family. His first harvest and vintage of Ginestra, came in the same year he became a father for the first time, and the handprints on the label represent the blending of Aldo, his wife Valentina, and the beautiful gift of their two daughters. The grapes come from one of Valentina’s grandfather’s, Paolo Conterno’s, former vineyards, which was passed down to Valentina’s mother. To make this wine, Aldo gets to pick only the best grapes from his mother-in-law’s Ginestra vineyard, and when we say pick we mean pick. He literally hand selects the areas and individual clusters that will go into making this wine that is pleasantly balsamic, structured, and certainly age worthy.
2 more secrets to making the best red wines in the world: marry well and love your job!
Opening and Aging Aldo’s Wines
During the VeroTalk, we also talked about cellar aging Barolos. Jokingly, Aldo first responded ‘As short of time as possible… so you drink and buy more! I studied accountancy after all!’ But then on a more serious note, he said that his personal preference is to drink Barolo young, as he prefers more tannic Barolos. Meanwhile you can age Barolos from 10-20 years, whereby the ageability depends a lot on the specific vintage, and the specific part of the Barolo wine region where the wine grapes came from.
Then we talked also about how long Aldo’s wines should breath before drinking them after one VeroTalk participant noted that Aldo’s Barbera d Alba got better over the 30 minutes or so it was in the glass. Due to the complexity of Aldo’s wines, made naturally with native yeast fermentation, Aldo recommends that all of his wines are opened before tasting, as follows:
Young Barolos: 3-4 hours
Old vintage Barolos - decant first then wait several hours
The rest of his wines: let breathe for 1 hour ahead of time.
Taste Aldo Clerico’s Wines
One thing we learned from this VeroTalk is that if you get a wine from Aldo Clerico, it has his quality stamp of approval. No wine leaves his winery until he personally likes the taste of it. He only wants the best and delivers the best.
Vero sells small production, sustainably made wines and olive oils, like Aldo’s, to distributors, wine stores, restaurant, as well as direct to consumers and corporates, across the US. If you are a licensed wine business and are interested in Aldo’s Langhe red wines, contact us today.
If you are a wine loving consumer, or are seeking corporate gifts, get Vero’s Italian wines delivered to you by purchasing in our online store. Purchase one of Aldo’s red wine sets below to get shipping included for the entire order, including any other add-ons you want to try.
