Bruno Giacosa Roero Arneis 2022

Piemonte’s Langhe region is famed for the great winemakers it has produced over the past century. Yet, few can rival Bruno Giacosa, not only for the stature of his work, but for the dizzying number of famous wines he made in a career that began in 1961 and ended with his death on January 21, 2018. For more than 50 years he made legendary wines in both Barolo or Barbaresco, and he was, in short, one of the profoundly great winemakers of our time.  

He also managed to create an exceptional white wine program based on this wine here : Roero Arneis. Zesty, fresh, racy and concentrated - this delicious dry Italian white is so interesting with its jasmine, orange zest, mint, pear and peach complexities. Made of 100% Arneis, an indigenous varietal cultivated in the Roero area. This wine was fermented in stainless to keep freshness and elegance. 

Born in Neive in 1929, Bruno Giacosa spent virtually his entire life in wine, beginning to work in the cellar with his father Mario and grandfather Carlo at the age of thirteen and becoming fully employed in the family business two years later. Bruno therefore learned how to make great Barolo and Barbaresco—and fine Barbera, Dolcetto and Arneis as well—from his father and grandfather, rather than in enology school. He learned important lessons from them, not the least of which was how to select fruit. This particular talent was always of paramount importance to him, but never more so than in the early days, as he didn’t buy his first vineyard until 1982. With the rise of estate-bottling in the 1990s—and thus facing the loss of his traditional grape sources—Giacosa decided to purchase his own vineyards in Barbaresco, choosing what are arguably the two finest crus of all, Asili and Rabajà. As would be expected, the Giacosa wines from these sites have been profound, and have added immeasurably to the Giacosa legend. 

As in Barbaresco, Giacosa bottled a stunning series of Barolos from purchased fruit in the 1960s and 1970s, including wines from Rocche di Castiglione Falletto, Villero, Ginestra, Pugnane, Bussia and Collina Rionda. But then in 1982 he acquired the majestic Falletto di Serralunga d’Alba vineyard, and it became the source of his greatest Barolos—rivaled only by the heroic Collina Rionda red and white label Barolos he made between 1967 and 1993. The wines were divided into two bottlings: “Falletto” (always white label) and “Rocche del Falletto,” from four south-facing parcels on the vineyard’s upper slope. His Rocche del Falletto bottlings could be either red or white label.

Bruno Giacosa’s 2018 death robbed the world of one of its greatest winemakers. However, his daughter Bruna, working with his longtime enologist and protegé, Dante Scaglione, has continued her father’s important work. Her commitment assures us that the Giacosa name on a bottle of wine denotes both highest quality and true vineyard expression.