Cantina Rizzi, Piedmont (Italy)

Brother and sister Enrico, an oenology graduate from Turin University, and Jole Dellapiana are now running their family's estate just outside Treiso, just along the road from Enrico Nada and Grasso Fratelli. Their father, Ernesto, established the estate in 1974 after he made a decision to quit his paper-making business to immerse himself in the land of the Langhe. There are now 90 acres, making it one of the largest wine estates in the whole of the Barbaresco region.

The family owns three large farms around Treiso as well as another The bulk of the production is from the Rizzi and Boito locali which surround the family home in Treiso. Boitograpes are made into an almost Barolo-like Riserva but, at my tasting of the wines, it was the 2011 Normale wines which persuaded me I had to buy these wines. There are three wines in this category, of which Nervo and Pajore impress most. Nervo is from sandier soils and produces more elegant, finer wines than the other locali and, along with Pajore, near to Barbaresco itself, is regarded as one of the very best vineyard sites in all of Barbaresco. The 2011 from Rizzi certainly attests to this.