“Alteni di Brassica” Bianco Langhe DOP 2023 · 6 bottles in OWC

Angelo Gaja | Piedmont
Az. Agr. Gaja | Via Torino 36 | IT 12050 Barbaresco

05230523 · 4,5 l · 214,22 €/l · Price (DE) incl. VAT, excl. Shipping2 units available
Limitation of 1 articles per customer

Some wines already bear their character in their name. Alteni di Brassica: it sounds like old stone walls, like the cool wind that blows through the hills of the Barbaresco region, like wild herbs that grow in the gardens between the vines. And indeed, this Sauvignon Blanc from Angelo Gaja tells exactly that: not of the exoticism of the grape variety, but of the landscape from which it comes.

The 2023 vintage was a year of balance. After a rather wet winter and cool spring came a summer that did not overheat, but breathed – with warm days, cool nights and a long finish into the golden autumn. It was a year for finesse rather than opulence. And this is exactly what the wine has achieved. The grapes for this idiosyncratic white wine are grown on small, selected plots in the chalky hillsides around Barbaresco, where Nebbiolo usually sets the pace. Fermented in stainless steel tanks, then matured in barriques – not to show wood, but to create texture. Alteni di Brassica is not a Sauvignon for the nose, but one for the palate.

Cool, restrained straw yellow colour in the glass. The aromas are delicate and finely spun: whitecurrant, salted lemon, elderflower, a hint of sage, but all at a low frequency. What characterises the wine is not the intensity, but the silence between the notes. Taut and cool on the palate, with silky, chiselled acidity, salty length and an almost chalky dryness. The Sauvignon is there, but in Piedmontese style – restrained, straightforward, with respect for the noble terroir.

Alteni di Brassica is a quiet soloist among white solitaires. A white wine with structure, poise and origin – and the quiet but firm conviction that great white wines do not have to be loud in order to linger for a long time. A wine like an open shutter on a quiet morning in the Langhe: clear, cool and full of light. SUPERIORE.DE

"The 2023 Alteni di Brassica is fabulous. It's lively and finely cut, with a lot of varietal character. It races out of the glass with notes of citrus peel, mint, chalk, white pepper, sage and white flowers. This lively, steely Sauvignon Blanc is great. Lively salty notes prolong the finish. The 2023 is a blend of 70 microvinifications." Vinous