Margherita Otto Barolo 2019

Drink it now or cellar for up to 25 years. It is recommended to decant it for an hour. Founded in 2014 by Alan Manley, Margherita Otto is a winery located in Monforte d'Alba, in the heart of the Langhe sub-region of Piedmont. After years of working in the restaurant business in Colorado, Alan Manley decided to move to Italy to pursue his love of wine and his passion for Barolo. He collaborated with renowned winemakers such as Bartolo Mascarello, Luciano Sandrone, and Cavallotto before establishing his own winery. Today, the winery produces a limited range of wines based on Nebbiolo grapes, with Barolo being its flagship wine. The Nebbiolo grapes are selected and hand-picked from vineyards located in Monforte d'Alba, Barolo, Serralunga, and Castiglione Falletto on clayey, sandy soils. After harvesting and fermentation with indigenous yeasts in concrete tanks, the wine undergoes approximately 35 days of maceration on the skins. The finished wine then ages for over 30 months in large Mittelberger barrels. The result is an elegant and harmonious red with a broad and fragrant aromatic profile revealing notes of mulberry, cherries in alcohol, and dried flowers (especially violets, typical of Nebbiolo), followed by hints of star anise and underbrush. On the palate, it is concentrated and distinctive, balanced and fresh with smooth and well-integrated tannins. The finish is long and recalls notes of underbrush. Try it with game meat.