# Barolo Paiagallo (2022)

- **Producer:** Giovanni Canonica
- **Colour:** red
- **Type:** still
- **Grapes:** Nebbiolo
- **Region:** Piemonte, Italy
- **Style:** Natural
- **Alcohol:** 14.0%
- **Average price:** €210
- **Vegan:** Yes
- **Contains sulphites:** Yes
- **When to drink:** Now or Later
- **Serving temperature:** 16–18 °C
- **Aromas & flavours:** rose, violet, cherry, plum, liquorice, cedar, smoke, dried fig, leather, mushroom, tobacco, forest floor, tar

## About this wine

Giovanni Canonica produces this highly sought-after single-vineyard Barolo from a tiny 1.5-hectare plot in the Paiagallo cru, located right below his home and agriturismo in the commune of Barolo. Canonica is a legendary figure among traditionalists and natural wine enthusiasts, crafting microscopic quantities of wine with deep reverence for historical Piedmontese methods. Late Barolo icon Giuseppe Rinaldi famously described Canonica's wine as the Barolo he wished he were capable of making.

## Interesting facts

- Giuseppe Rinaldi called Canonica's Barolo the wine he wished he were capable of making.
- Total annual production is microscopic, yielding only around 6,000 bottles.
- Grapes are harvested from vines over 50 years old in the historic Paiagallo cru.
- Winemaking takes place in a tiny cellar directly beneath Giovanni Canonica's bed & breakfast.

## Food pairing

High tannin and pronounced acidity demand rich protein, fat, and deeply savory elements. Slow-cooked meats soften the firm tannic structure, while earthy components like wild mushrooms and truffles mirror the subtle underbrush and floral complexity of traditional Barolo.

## Wine making process

Farmed organically without synthetic chemicals, the Nebbiolo grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed, and foot-pressed. Fermentation occurs spontaneously using indigenous yeasts in fiberglass and cement vessels without temperature control. Extended skin maceration lasts 30 to 40 days. The wine is pressed using a traditional vertical hand press, aged for approximately three years in 20-hectoliter Slavonian oak casks (botti grandi) and cement tanks, and bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal sulfur.