Sori Della Sorba Solo per Amore Langhe Rosso DOC 2021

Carlo Mondavi’s been on quite the hot streak… between top scores and tons of praise for his Raen label, plus the usual accolades for the family’s Continuum efforts, and now...this! A 95-point collaboration in Piemonte with Giovanna Bagnasco!

This is just the sort of off-the-radar-but-not-for-long wine we love to share with y’all here at First Bottle. Only their third-ever vintage, and already primed to make a splash in Piemonte and beyond. Sorì della Sorba is based in the Langhe, in the small village of Diano D’Alba. Here, in the foothills of the Italian Alps, Carlo and Giovanna are focused on a single vineyard – a south-facing amphitheater surrounded by an oak forest (with white truffles!) atop limestone and clay soils at over 1500 feet in elevation. Sorì essentially means “cru” referring to the highest and best-exposed vineyard, where the alpine snows melt first and the sun is the strongest. Here, in a vineyard that has plantings going back to the 1950s, the pair farm just over six acres. Everything is farmed organically and biodynamically, yielding just two wines – a straight nebbiolo, and this...their Solo per Amore blend.

The blend is based on some 60% dolcetto and rounded out with 30% nebbiolo and 10% barbera. 90% of the fruit is fermented whole cluster in stainless steel tanks, with aging to follow in large Slovenian oak vats. The result is spectacular, with James Suckling calling it “layered and beautiful.” Spicy, muscular, and blessed with depth – this bottle leads with high-toned florals and blood orange notes, before cascading into a bounty of juicy red berries and cherries, smoked and savory herbs, and a salty sanguine character on the finish. Three years has worked wonders on this bottle – though another couple will only improve it even more! Not much to be had here, and this is definitely the sort of wine you want to get in early on! Best price in the USA – while it lasts!

PAIRING IDEAS: This is the perfect match with a favorite pasta of mine… corn agnolotti. A puree of roasted corn, cooked down in its own juices and thickened with some cream and grated parmigiano reggiano. Fill your agnolotti, cook in boiling water, and toss in some sage brown butter with a bit more cheese and some roasted corn kernels. Heaven.