The Serenading Wines of Serralunga
10/1/26 -
Wines from Serralunga are some of our favorites for their bold and charming character, depth, and herbaceousness. A heavier presence of limestone in the soil crafts more muscular wines with great aging potential; it's no coincidence that some of the top estates in Barolo are situated in Serralunga. Today we are featuring two of our longtime favorite growers, Ferdinando Principiano (photo above) and Luigi Baudana, who strike a balance of Serralunga's characteristic power with a lighter hand in the cellar, bringing lift and freshness.
We are excited to offer a mix of current release and back vintages today, plus some verticals of Baudana!
-Marisa Licandro
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Ferdinando Principiano's Wildlife Haven
Bees, migratory birds, frogs and various flora call Ferdinando Principiano's vines home. He is a friend to all creatures big and small and takes his responsibility to steward the land seriously. Wildflowers grow between the rows, there is a small patch of woodland from which you can hear the birds sing, and as one enters Ravera there is a hundred-year-old rosemary bush teaming with life. In turn, his wines have lift, soul, and strong sense of place.
“I make and sell wine that is accessible to all and that represents this place. I take care of the land for my son to inherit, but really, he and I are just stewards. The land is everyone’s inheritance.” -Ferdinando Principiano
His flagship wine, 2020 Barolo di Serralunga, is stunning in its own right, but also happens to be a fantastic price point! I find 2020 to be underrated in Barolo as it's sandwiched between two age-worthy vintages but it's in a perfect drinking window now with open knit tannins, perfectly ripe fruit, and delicate aromatics. Ferdinando makes a charming Boscareto, which is the lower part of the hillside of Cascina Francia and has even created a pond in the vineyard, a little agroturismo for wildlife. While Boscareto's limestone rich soils can produce powerful wines, Principiano's is elegant, expressive, and balanced in comparison. Next up is Ravera, Ferdinando's only Monforte cru, from 2019 and 2020. When tasting these, Ravera showed a bit more blackberry plushness supported by earth and herbs, which makes sense due to sandier soils.
Year after year his Langhe Nebbiolo is one of the finest we've tasted and is sourced from his aforementioned crus' younger vines. All stainless steel aging delivers a classy, silky, and balanced Nebbiolo. These wines are pure joy captured in the bottle, while still feeling serious and having incredible aging potential.
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Luigi Baudana's Quintessential Barolo
Baudana is a special name in Serralunga, referring to both the original owners' surname, the hamlet they hail from, and the cru they stewarded. Luigi and Fiorina Baudana passed the reins to the Vaira family in 2008 who, from the beginning, promised to keep every aspect of the estate the same. Farming is all organic, production is tiny, and fermentations are traditional.
Their namesake cru, Baudana, sits in the Northern reaches of Serralunga with bluish-gray Tortonian-era Sant'Agata Fossili marls. Cerretta produces many excellent wines, but Baudana's vines are in the particular section of Cerretta Piani with iron rich marl and a cooler microclimate.
What is so lovely about these wines is that they're snapshots of .77 hectares of Cerretta and 1.6 hectares Baudana in a single year captured in the glass. Although this adds up to a scant 2.3 hectares in a region abundant with vines, they end up representing the quintessential character of Barolo at large. Power with finesse, charming fruit with restraint, and classic Barolo notes like cherry, woodsy herbs, and rose. This is the magic of well made, small-scale Barolo!
Today we are excited to offer the 2022 vintage of Cerretta and Baudana, as well as some special three-pack verticals including 2013 and 2015. The library releases are direct from the estate, and are net priced.
