2021 Vintage Report: Piedmont

Einaudi Winery

Matteo Sardagna Einaudi is at the helm of Einaudi’s success in recent years. A lifetime connection to the countryside has given him the ability to represent the various nuances of the Barolo area.

“There were good water levels in Spring 2021, which opened the door to an excellent growth cycle,” says Matteo Sardagna Einaudi.

He goes on to explain that it was hot and dry starting in July and this led to excellent maturation. These high temps eliminated any risk of disease as well. “The Dolcetto was harvested when it was really hot. The Nebbiolos benefitted from early October rains. All of the grapes have good sugar and phenolic profiles.”

With the excellent growth cycle, Matteo is feeling optimistic, “This vintage promises to be absolutely fantastic. We are confident that all of the wines will be high quality.”

Marcarini Winery

From the time he was born, Andrea Marchetti has been part of one of the most prestigious wineries in La Morra. Despite honing winemaking skills around the world, Andrea Marchetti is always excited to see what the Piedmont growing season will bring.

“One word to describe 2021 is ‘surprising,’ says Andrea, before adding “At the beginning, the surprises were negative – first because of frost, then hail.”

But then everything changed.

“Flowering was truly excellent and saw no rain. And thankfully, there were no other surprises. August, September and October saw almost exclusively sun and this brought on healthy water stress, which led to an excellent accumulation and concentration of tannins.”

“All this, along with excellent health across the vineyards for the entire year, leads us to believe that in spite of the lower quantities, it’s going to be an excellent vintage with great aging potential and an intriguing tannin profile. For now, we just have to wait for the Barolos to rest and see if 2021 surprises us again!”

Gaudio Bricco Mondalino

From learning beside her father to the wise words of her grandmother Beatrice has learned that living in harmony with the land is can yield the greatest reward even if working with the native wines of Monferrato takes work and balance.

“The vintage was cold and rainy in a spring that came after a quite cold and snowy winter. But this gave the shoots vigor and balance,” says Beatrice, ”

After many hailstorms all over Italy, we saw a big heat wave that lasted from late July to mid-September.

However, phenological ripening for color and tannins happened quicker than for sugars and acidity, allowing for an excellent harvest of the Chardonnay and sparkling base wines, with lower alcohol than previous vintages.

Afterward, we finally saw some rain and had about a week to prepare to pick Barbera, Freisa and Nebbiolo grapes. We finished harvesting 6 October and ended on a fantastic note. It is a spectacular vintage, rich in everything. Ample and balanced, it will definitely be considered one of the best of the last thirty years.

We finished racking in late October and are very happy with the results. We did some experimentation and are very proud: a base for sparkling wine, Monferrato Rosso Merlot and Syrah.

Torraccia di Piantavigna

Alessandro Guagliardi agrees with the sentiment that the spring growing season was tough, “The April frost-damaged about 35% our Ghemme vineyards and two large hailstorms damaged 40% of the remaining grapes and 80% of our Gattinara vineyards.”

We harvested about 20 days later than usual, due to slow ripening, accentuated by a scorching hot August.

“Because of this, we won’t be producing Gattinara and Ghemme this vintage,” says Alessandro, before adding “However, we look forward to extremely high quality in our other wines.”