Piero Busso: Charm and Sophistication in Neive

6/18/25 - 

Do you ever come across a blind spot that leaves you wondering “how did I miss this?”. Like, how did I ignore Yo La Tengo for this long? And why, after 25 years in the wine business, did I not realize how exceptional the wines of Piero Busso are?! What an oversight. Well, every discovery is a new opportunity, and what a joy to be able to share a personal discovery with y’all today.
 
Maybe it’s the vintage? 2021 is outstanding across Piedmont (and Tuscany too, but that’s an email for another time), and the wine that set off my personal alarm bell was the 2021 Barbaresco ‘Mondino’. This led to further exploration of Busso’s broader lineup and the revelation that these are among the purest, most elegant wines of Barbaresco. At once both delicate and powerful, with incredible fragrance and drive, Busso manages to capture the aromatic high notes as well as the deeper, earth-driven elements that are markers for the best exemplars of Barbaresco and the neighboring wines of Barolo.

75 years after Guido Busso planted his first vines in the Barbaresco comune of Neive, the Busso estate is today managed primarily by Guido’s grandson Pierguido. A lot of vignaioli will say that they make the wine in the vineyard, not the cellar, and Pierguido is a shining example of this approach. Everything is done organically of course, with no tilling or mowing. He doesn’t really touch the soil, and encourages the cover crop to run wild. One look at his vines in this photo (dog included for scale!) and you’ll see what I mean. It’s a riot of plant and animal life, with a vibrancy that translates through the spontaneous ferments in the cellar and on into the wines themselves. 

His 10ha of vines now include a plot in Treiso as well as Neive, and represent 4 different Barbaresco Crus, some lovely Barbera, and importantly for our purposes, a really stunning Langhe Nebbiolo. And I think stunning is a very fair descriptor for the Busso style as these are wines that come directly to you in the glass. Like all great Nebbiolo there is mystery to be had, secrets that can only be unlocked by the decanter (and even more so, time in the cellar), but it’s a real challenge not to drink these all up now.
 
- Michael Acheson

You can be forgiven for mistaking the 2023 Langhe Nebbiolo for Barbaresco, considering it *is* sourced from Barbaresco vineyards. These are younger vines with a more open aspect, but they transmit that certain Busso-ness, an orientation toward lifted, bright, fresh fragrance and suppleness in the mouth. Fun to drink but retains enough seriousness to demand attention, it’s the Tuesday night iteration of the Mondino.

The 2021 Barbaresco ‘Mondino’ comes from 45 year-old vines planted in the Balluri Cru on limestone, clay, and sand soils. Incredibly perfumed and fragrant, the nose is equal parts wild strawberry and velvet. The palate is all brambleberry confit and licorice at first, super juicy with amazing texture, gaining grip and intensity with some air. It’s a very, very dangerous wine, and after a few hours when lilts of white truffle start to peek out you know you’ve really come across something special.

Barbaresco San Stunet is the Busso's only parcel in Treiso and really rounds out the lineup. For all of the silky, seductive aromas of the Busso's Nieve bottlings, the 2021 Barbaresco San Stunet, on the very edge of the high altitude Treiso comune, shows a grace and edge that few Barbarescos achieve in the age of climate change. This is a wild wine in the truest sense of the word. It tastes of fresh red berries, spring flowers, and a real sense of the rustic landscape from which it's harvested. Everything is wrapped around the tension of fine tannins and distinct acidity on the palate. If you're into lighter, cold-climate vibes, you'll really dig this wine.

Other than Albesani, Gallina is the other "home" vineyard for the Busso's. Directly across the small dirt road from their house & winery, Gallina is a gently pitched, southeast facing vineyard, smack in the middle of the great Neive parcels. For as much magic as there is in Pierguido's wines, some of the beauty of the 2020 Barbaresco Gallina must also be from the fact that it's a hop, skip, and a jump when some emergency farming needs to be done. The wine is extremely fresh and elegant, the tannins are supple, and the extraction totally in check. Red fruits, delicate bouquet, the wine really leaps out of the glass. This is at once a serious and complex wine, and deliciously playful.


You have successfully subscribed!
This email has been registered