2011 Malvirà Renesio Roero Riserva

Malvirà is the standard-bearer for Roero, the sandy left bank of the Tanaro that has spent decades in Barolo’s shadow. From Canale, brothers Roberto and Massimo Damonte farm organically across a patchwork of crus, bottling Nebbiolo as single sites rather than blends. Malvirà makes the case that Roero is not a lesser Nebbiolo — simply a different one.

Each cru carries its own signature. Trinità surrounds the winery and is the quintessential expression of Roero’s sand: soaring aromatics, lacy tannins and ethereal elegance. Renesio, one of Roero’s most historic hills and reportedly the birthplace of the Arneis grape, mixes calcareous clay and sand, and its Nebbiolo bridges power and grace — chiselled, mineral and floral. Mombeltramo is the geographical outlier, rooted in clay and limestone, and makes the most muscular, Barolo-like wine of the three, savory and structured, needing time to soften.

What sets the estate apart is its library. The Damontes hold back parcels of their single-vineyard Riservas and release them only when they reach their drinking windows, which is how I have been able to taste Trinità from 2006 and 2010, Renesio from 2010 and 2011 and Mombeltramo from 2013, 2014 and 2016 straight from the cellars in Canale. With age they develop the leather, tar, tobacco and dried-flower complexity usually reserved for the Langhe.