Mirafiore Pietra Magica "Barolo" 2017

In my time spinning wine yarns, I’ve tried to elucidate a lot of different things, but this one is certainly a doozy. Yet, my love for Barolo compels me to try. So here goes:

Nebbiolo is the grape variety of Barolo. Barolo is a relatively marginal climate, in the sense that it often experiences inclement weather well into the spring and then far into the fall. This is just the worst for Nebbiolo as it flowers late and ripens late. Which means that in old times, say pre-1980, it was typical for Barolo to be destroyed sometimes 3 times, or 4 times, or even 5 times a decade because of bad weather. If it wasn’t for how amazing the other 50% of the times turned out, Barolo probably wouldn’t be made.This is the backdrop of our magical tale. 

Barolo once was also a poor place, and in general, there wasn’t a lot of science and technology to go around. This is true for many of Italy’s wine-growing regions (and agriculture worldwide). If the rains came, or frost, or hail, there wasn’t much to do as a farmer except drink grappa and wait them out. 

And so our story comes to a point - this vineyard of Mirafiore’s, on the the hill of Vesime, for some reason, vintage in and vintage out, did not receive inclement weather. That’s right—this vineyard always had a “magical” harvest, no matter what all was going on in the Barolo fields around it. Why? 

One theory, as it was related to me, is geographic. The vineyard is located on a southeast-facing slope, so it naturally would see less inclement weather. Hence, many famous vineyards in Europe are planted on southeast-facing slopes.  

The other theory, depicted on the label, is that in ancient times, somebody— wine fairies, witches, fanatical imbibers—put a series of stones as magical talismans in the vineyard, a set of “spells and prayers, expressions of a culture and a community which looked for solutions, some transcendent, to deal with disasters, to redirect destiny towards serenity, to ward off evil,” as the winemaker puts it. I do so love how a bottle of wine can end up narrating an entirely new reality. At the very least, you now have the explanation for why there is a Mo’ai on this bottle of Barolo. 

“Hey wait a second,” you might say. “You keep saying Barolo and nowhere on this bottle does it say Barolo. I thought Barolo was a protected term, not to be abused. What gives?” The story continues…

In order to honor this magical vineyard, the winemakers at Mirafiore use the ancient technique (which I had never heard of before) of passing the juice of Nebbiolo from this Barolo vineyard, over the skins of Barbera. As they put it: “We decided to reinterpret this antique Langa technique in which delestage is carried out half way through the fermentation process, while the Nebbiolo is still on its skins, separating the wine from the grape skins and placing it in contact with the skins of Barbera grapes, where it spends at least two hours.”

While I may never have heard of this before, I can tell you that the result is magical: dark red cherry, purple plums, wood smoke, notes of graphite, and cherry-scented tobacco showcase an explosive Barolo full of youthful energy and power.  The pleasure continues on the palate, where violets, black fruits and touches of balsamic are conveyed, mingling with the fruit characteristics of the nose.  Pure power and personality clamor to get out of the bottle – it won’t be enough to have just one glass.  You’ll need more just to fully engage with this dynamically authoritative wine. Or, to turn it back over to the winery, “The complexity and structure of the wine find their perfect dimension. Immediate, elegant, with an explosion of freshness in the nose, this is a wine that can age at length in the bottle. Simply magical.” 

Indeed. We got this stunner at a magical price. Don’t miss it!

From the winery:

In the past, when there was a shortage of technology and science, all the old farmers
could do was put their faith in magic and the Langa is full of old stories and legends
laced with magic. These stories are usually linked to natural disasters, like the advent
of new, unknown diseases, or particular, adverse climates that arrived just before
the grape harvest. Even Cesare Pavese in his book "La luna e i falò” (The moon and
the bonfires), described the magic ritual of fire to chase away the "witches" in the
days leading up to the harvest, describing it as the most magical time of the year. We
have dedicated th is vineyard to magic, rediscovering an old story found in the 1980s
when two anthropomorphic stones were found at the end of a row of vines in an old
vineyard, called "camongin" on the hill of Vesime, the last survivors of twenty-four
pairs, sculpted from stone, that marked the landscape of the vineyard. It is possible
that the stone vineyard was created to combat the drama of phylloxera, a disease
that destroyed European viticulture at the beginning of the 20th century. Magic thought represents a system of oral knowledge, capable of interpreting the world and
fighting everyday challenges. Talismans, stones, spells and prayers are expressions of
the culture of a community which looked solutions, some transcendent, to deal with
disasters, to redirect destiny towards serenity, to ward off evil.

Besides being organic, thanks to its twelve stones, this vineyard is also magical ...We
cannot explain why, but the wine grown here is just better.

At the beginning of the season, in April, a terrible wave of frost struck the whole of
Southern Piedmont, with disastrous results, because the vines were budding.

"Magically," the grapes of Vigna magica survived and reached harvest in the finest quality, while all the surrounding vineyards had been so badly damaged by frost that they were not even harvested. There are several explanations: the scientific reason relates
to southerly exposure, the magical reason is that the “Mahoi” of Langa used their
beneficial influence to protect the vines and their fruit. Pietra magica is nothing more
than the historical interpretation of how the wine of the Langa, which later became
Barolo, was conceived many many years ago.
Nebbiolo, which was once the most important grape variety in southern Piedmont
due to climate, cooler than today, was not vinified separately but in contact with the
skins of Barbera grapes. This made it possible to soften the tannin and make the Nebbiolo, or Barolo, easier to drink. We decided to reinterpret this antique Langa technique in which delestage is carried out half way through the fermentation process,
while the Nebbiolo is still on its skins, separating the wine from the grape skins and
placing it in contact with the skins of Barbera grapes, where it spends at least two
hours. The wine is then returned to its original Nebbiolo skins.
After completion of alcoholic fermentation, the wine undergoes submerged cap
maceration for up to 60 days, and this is when the magic happens: the wine independently carries out malo-lactic fermentation, the tannin softens and the acidity balances with the body, gaining a disarming elegance, so elegant that it is almost ready to
drink. With a year spent in large barrels, the complexity and structure of the wine find
their perfect dimension. Immediate, elegant, with an explosion of freshness in the
nose, this is a wine that can age at length in the bottle. Simply magical.