It was my good friend Denise Pardini, owner of the esteemed Castello di Sinio in Sinio in the heart of the Langhe region, who first brought me to the Josetta Safffirio cantina in Castelletto back in 2000.  Denise was, at the time, running a small tour company and she took our group of PRIMA customers to meet proprietor Sara Vezza, poke around the winery and enjoy a lovely al fresco lunch in the vines. The fifth generation of her family to farm here, Sara, having just turned 20 years old, had just taken over the property from her mother Josetta and, with her help of her enologist father, was in the midst of restoring the vineyards, rebuilding the winery and giving the brand a new lease on life.  Over a lunch that featured a broad selection of Saffirio wines, both young and old, Sara and Josetta, who herself took over the winery from her parents in 1975 at the age of 23, explained the grand scheme to convert her small holdings in Monforte and Novello to organic farming and to revamp the winemaking to incorporate a more natural approach.  I sort of lost track of Saffirio over the years as the wines rarely appear in the U.S., and it took 26 years to rediscover just how far they’ve come!  The Saffirio holdings include small parcels in the Castelletto, Perno, Bussia and Ravera MGAs, all close to each other as the crow flies but remarkably different in terms of the wines they produce.  Of the three single vineyards they bottle, Ravera is the smallest and most singular.  On the Mount Rushmore of most important MGAs in Barolo, Ravera has a place.  Located in the commune of Novello at the far southern end of the La Morra ridge, it’s a vast south-facing amphitheater that merges the younger Tortonian soils from La Morra and neighboring Barolo with the far older ones one finds in Monforte d’Alba where the other Saffirio holdings are.  It’s the ultimate blend, it is said, of La Morra’s richer, fruitier profile with the gravitas and structure of the eastern zones.  It’s a large vineyard but the family farms only a postage stamp-sized parcel of barely an acre that produces not even 200 cases of wine.  It’s a fine spot, though, rich in silt, sand and clay at a cooler 350 meters altitude that helps preserve all of the wine’s lovely natural acidity.  Aged only in one small cask and the rest in porcelain egg, it’s a richly textured, earthy Barolo that captures the Nebbiolo grape at its most exotic, a Moroccan souk’s worth of cinnamon, clove and other spices on a hefty frame with some significant tannins- a feature of this vineyard- that have mellowed quite a bit over the past few years in the bottle.  This has been one of my Barolo finds of the year and a case where ‘typical’ can also equal ‘exceptional.’

Validation Department:

Wine Advocate: Here's a new submission from Josetta Saffirio. The 2019 Barolo Ravera gives this producer access to one of the most interesting growing sites in the appellation that straddles the villages of Barolo and Novello. The wine displays the heartier quality of fruit that this site is known for with savory and slightly exotic overtones of spice, dried rose bud and Turkish tea. Fruit comes from a half-hectare parcel at 400 meters in elevation. Only 2,000 bottles exist. 93 points

James Suckling: A flavorful and zesty Barolo, with layers of fresh figs, coffee, sour cherries, crushed stones and vanilla. It’s full-bodied, with delicious fruity coffee aromas accompanied by firm, sleek tannins. Expressive. Try in 2025. 93 points