Barbaresco Sori Paitin, Paitin 2020

This is a famous Barbaresco estate now run by Giovanni and Silvano Pasquero Elia. The winery sits on the Bricco di Neive with a magnificent view over the vines below. For a time we felt the wines were geared to the American market, using a rotofermenter and plenty of oak but they are now right back on form showing the natural quality of the exceptional fruit.

The Paitin estate began to take shape in 1796, when William Pitt the Younger was Prime Minister of Britain and Napoleon was marching a Revolutionary army into northern Italy. In the same year Benedetto Elia purchased a farm with a wine cellar and so began the story of this historic estate. His son expanded the vineyards and his grandson renovated the winery and began bottling Barbaresco Sori Paitin himself in 1893.

In 1965 Secondo Pasquero-Elia revitalised the estate once more by building a new winery and initiating a replanting programme, introducing new clonal stock while expanding the vineyard area. Sadly he died in 2019 but his sons Giovanni and Silvano have picked up the baton with great aplomb.

They grow native varieties nebbiolo, dolcetto, barbera and arneis on their 17 hectares. Their finest wines are centred on the 4.5-hectare Paitin vineyard at Serra Boella, a south-west facing vineyard at 320 metres altitude on the Bricco di Neive. Sustainable, ecologically minded farming, low yields, 40 year-old vines and a superb terroir all add up to excellence.