Ferdinando Principiano

Ferdinando Principiano is producing world-class elegant and natural wines, with a watermark of traditional Barolo terroir. Ferdinando started in 1993, with 7 hectares from his father and grandfather; he now owns and farms 21 hectares. All farming is uncertified organic, but he goes way beyond the normal organic practices and is obsessed with preserving or creating the conditions for biodiversity in and around his vineyards. This includes buying adjacent forests, and creating a pond at the base of his Boscareto cru that acts as a home for migratory birds, and a chorus of frogs. He works the vineyards by hand, including the use of a scythe, as we’ll see described below in a moment. All cellar work is low intervention.

From Brooding Barolo to Ethereal Deliciousness
Barolo from the pre-80’s were not brooding. Yes, some vintages were green, tannic and washed out. And it’s no wonder that from around the 80’s onward, most Barolo producers began to practice green harvesting to concentrate fruit for consistent results. Yet, at the same time, climate change also silently marched on. So much so that from the 90’s onward we started seeing a more extracted Barolo style of wines, with elevated alcohol levels that started at 14.5% – and often reached 15% or more. These alcohol levels can be equated with both traditional and modern producers. This is not to say that some of these wines can’t be extraordinary, like single malt scotch or Mezcal can, but they are not refreshing. Pairing them can also be difficult. And, in the end, the sprightly and ethereal Nebbiolo as Barolo started to have become banished as a sipping wine for formal dinners with roasted meats. That’s all in contrast to a recent visit with Ferdinando, where we noshed on anchovy and butter sandwiches, while sipping and drinking a few glasses of his delicious cellar-temperature Barolo ‘Boscareto’ 2016. One of our colleagues promptly repeated this experience, when her friend came over for a simple midweek pasta. What a joy to be regularly drinking Barolo again! with its ethereal nose, lithe mineral fruit and deliciousness!

How does Ferdinando accomplish this? First, he truly wants to be drinking these kind of wines. Many current Barolo producers enjoy a more brooding and extracted style, and the alcohol levels don’t seem to bother them. Second: Ferdinando totally eschews green harvest, preferring a wild and thick leaf canopy provides that gives shade to the grape clusters (the best of which he uses for some whole-cluster fermentation). Third: all fermentations are spontaneous and in stainless steel. He doesn’t add SO2 between the end of the harvest and until the end of the malolactic fermentation, which, while not pertaining to alcohol levels, does allow the nose to remain extremely fresh, expressive and pristine.

Vineyards and Wines:
Ferdinando Principiano’s cellar is in Barolo sub-zone of Monforte with vineyard holdings in Monforte, Serralunga, and Alta Langa for his Timorasso and the relatively unknown Piedmont grape called Slarina. For the all the moving and shaking in Barolo the last twenty years, it’s worth noting that this southeast part of the Barolo has a palpable quiet and calm, with the nearby small town of Monforte itself as charming as ever. As to the individual vineyards:

Ravera di Monforte (Monforte d’Alba)*
1.4 hectares total, 0.6 hectares of which were planted in 1934. Replacement vines are from massale selection. Michet clone. 400m altitude. The soils here are more sandy, and thus more like Cannubi – i.e., more elegant and expressive at a younger age, with fruit that’s open-knit and sensual, as opposed to the more sternly structured wines from many other parts of Monforte and from the adjacent Serralunga. This is the vineyard where Ferdindando started doing natural viticulture, in 2002. It’s now part of the Falci Prometheus project, in which producers scythe the cover crop between rows by hand in order to help preserve biodiversity. As Ferdinando pointed out, the hand-scything also reduces noise pollution from mechanized tools (weed whackers, etc.).

Boscareto (Serralunga d’Alba)
6 hectares, 2.5 of which were planted by Ferdinando’s grandfather and 3.5 hectares were planted in the 1990s. 400m altitude with SE exposure; Cascina Francia sits just above, at 440m. Soils are mostly limestone, with some clay and sand. The majority of the Barolo di Serralunga bottling comes from this vineyard (along with grapes from Lirano), and of course the Boscareto cru bottling is from here. In addition, some of the grapes go into the Langhe Nebbiolo. The Boscareto cru bottling is only made in vintages where is wine is expected to age and improve at least 30 years. Boscareto is complex: classic rose and Serralunga anise on nose, with great length and stuffing. This is where Ferdinando has created a pond from a natural spring in the vineyard, and it’s become a home to herons and hundreds of frogs. He’s also set up beehives on the far side of the pond.

Lirano (Serralunga d’Alba)
400m. A middle ground between the Alta and Bassa Langa. Alternating layers of marl and yellow sand. Nebbiolo grapes make up some of the Barolo di Serralunga.

Sant’Anna (Monforte d’Alba)
60-year old Dolcetto vines in this cru go into the Dolcetto d’Alba (along with 10-30 year old vines from Montagliato, see below).

Le Coste (Monforte d’Alba)
The grapes from this cru go into the Langhe Nebbiolo (which is by all measure a declassified Barolo).

Montagliato (in the commune of Monforte d’Alba, but outside the Barolo DOCG)
This is a newer vineyard, which Ferdinando purchased in 2010 and planted with a traditional mix of Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto, and Freisa. Elevations range from 400 to 550 meters, and there’s always lots of wind; both of these factors contribute to the great freshness and moderate alcohols of Ferdinando’s wines (including Dosset, Dolcetto d’Alba, Barbera d’Alba, and Langhe Nebbiolo).

The top of the hill is called Bricco della Croce (Hilltop of the Cross). There was a bloody battle with Napoleon’s troops here in the 18th century, and afterwards locals erected a cross to honor the dead. When Ferdinando bought the property, he found the wooden cross lying in a field near the hilltop, so he restored and re-erected it. He’s also partially reconstructed a little stone fort that was on the hilltop in Napoleonic times. And he transferred a massive pine tree from near Alba and replanted it on the hill. Apparently there used to be a big pine tree here several hundred years ago, but at some point it got cut down.

Serravalle Langhe (Alta Langa)
Three vineyard areas at 750m, including Timorasso and Slarina. Inspired by a tasting dinner with Walter Massa in 2009, Ferdinando quietly returned home and began looking for a high-altitude vineyard to plant Timorasso.  If you enjoy the more herbal taut, acid-driven style of Timorasso, you’re in for a treat. There are just a few producers working with Slarina at this point. It’s a spunky low-alcohol grape variety, bursting with small red and black fruits and grippy tannins.

All in all, we’ve re-kindled our Barolo craving that’s been filled mostly by Nebbiolo predilections in Alto Piemonte, Valtellina and Valle d’Aosta. We also are huge fans of Ferdinando’s other bottlings, such as his fun-loving 11% ‘Dosset’ from Dolcetto, add to that his Freisa, Barbera, Slarina and Timorasso. The way he walks the line between natural wine and traditional: he’s kinda exactly where all our desires and tastes are here at PortoVino.

*Note that there are two vineyards in the Barolo DOCG named “Ravera”. One is mostly in the commune of Novello, with a small contiguous piece in the commune of Barolo. Wines from the Novello Ravera cru are labeled simply “Ravera”. Ferdinando Principiano’s Ravera, on the other hand, is in the southeast corner of the commune of Monforte. Wines from this cru are always labeled “Ravera di Monforte”, to avoid confusion with the other vineyard.