Banfi La Lus Albarossa Piedmonte DOC

Description

Banfi La Lus Albarossa Piedmonte DOC is an Italian red wine from the Piedmont region. It is made from the Albarossa grape variety, a grape variety created in the Veneto wine region in 1938. It is a cross of Barbera, typical of the Piedmont region, and a grape called Chatus, an old grape variety from the Ardeche in France. For years, before DNA testing, it was thought that Chatus was Nebbiolo.

Castello Banfi was founded in 1978 by two Italian-American brothers, John and Harry Mariani. The goal of the two brothers was to create a state-of-the-art winery combined with the most advanced science in the vineyards for the production of premium wines.  Today they have estates in Montalcino, Bolgheri, Chianti and Piedmont. In the last 40 years, they have been at the forefront of the revival of Brunello and Rosso di Montalcino,  engaging in significant academic studies into the region’s geology, climate and different Sangiovese clones. They also now own the historic Bruzzone winery in Piedmont (founded 1860). The Castello Banfi estate is located in Montalcino and is situated at the confluence of the Orcia and Ombrone rivers. The estate extends along the southern slopes of the township of Montalcino across 7,100 acres of land; one third of the property is under specialized vine and the balance is shared between olive groves, wheat fields, plum trees, truffle stands, forest and scrub.

There are not many plantings (less than 10 hectares in Italy) of Albarossa, and Banfi’s La Lus has to be a contender for the best wine made from this unusual grape variety.  The grapes for Banfi La Lus Albarossa Piedmonte DOC are sourced from vineyards with an average vine age of 10 to 20 years. The vineyards are situated on clay / limestone soils. The grapes are hand-harvested and gently crushed before fermentation in stainless steel. The wine is matured in French oak barrels, 20% of which are new, for 12 months prior to bottling.