Lalù

This young estate is run by Lara and Luisa (Lalu being a catchy portmanteau of the pair's names) . The pair met in 2010 while studying, eventually submitting a joint thesis on constructing a carbon-neutral winery. After graduation, both women went travelling before finding work at Treddiberri, where Nicola’s father facilitated their first vineyard purchase in 2015. In 2017/18, they left to work in Burgundy, first at Lafon in Meursault, then at Tremblay in Morey-Saint-Denis (Cecile speaks very highly of the duo). A year later, they established Az. Age. Lalù and rented a small winery space in Serralunga d’Alba where they vinified wines from two communes. Their winemaking methodology is hybrid, combining varied techniques to pursue the pair's desired aesthetic. Their farming is considered and conscientious; fruit is destemmed with a portion sometimes painstakingly removed by hand from the rachis and peduncle, and the wines are fermented and aged in wood and cement (25hl tino and 15hl botte).

It's a joy to visit the pair and see the scale and pace of their success, to taste their recently released Barolo Le Coste di Monforte, and take in the breathtaking vista from their new property/tasting room 500m asl in Monforte. The wines are multidimensional and layered, boasting primary aromas and moreish characteristics. And as it resolves, the Barolo is shedding its oak-inflected character, revealing a more complex and silky wine which will age admiradbly.