Meeting Giulia Negri in person is an unforgettable experience.  She has a smile that instantly lights up a room.  Many of you experienced that firsthand when she lit up your television sets while charming actor Stanley Tucci a few years ago on his travel program during his visit to her vineyard and winery.  How can anyone with that much vivacity and that wide a smile be such a serious and accomplished winemaker?  Well, those dancing eyes, in addition to radiating an intense joie de vivre, also radiate uncommon intensity, intelligence and curiosity.  You’ll know within five minutes of meeting her, this is not a person to be trifled with.  After taking degrees in both management and biology, her next move was off to Burgundy where she began a love affair with the elegance and refinement those wines afforded.  She left her apprenticeship in France to move back to her native La Morra in 2014 to take over the family farm and cantina from her father Giovanni, a well-known author and retired member of Parliament. All at the ripe old age of 24. In a very short time, the woman locals lovingly call ‘Barologirl’ has created for herself an unequalled reputation for independence, meticulousness and, most importantly, the quality of her wines.  Believing that the small oak barrels her father left behind made Barolos that showed too much wood and too little fruit, she replaced them with larger, completely neutral casks in which to age and refine the Nebbiolo she grows on the prized Serradenari MGA she lovingly farms. Serradenari, it should be pointed out, is the highest MGA in the entire Barolo appellation.  Bisected by the road to Novello, this large vineyard spills out from both sides of the crest of La Morra hill and was known, back in the middle ages, as a place of refuge for those fleeing the Black Death as its open orientation, cooler temperatures and fresh breezes from the Alps made the air fresher.  Look down on one side and you can see those Alps on the horizon beyond the Cherasco plain; the other side looks right down on the heart of the Barolo appellation.  It’s truly a gorgeous spot!  Its altitude and exposure suits Giula’s winemaking approach to a tee.  She embraces understatement and finesse, and her wines have developed reputations for just those attributes.  But no wine she’s yet made from this vineyard can rival her just released 2021 Barolo Serradenari.  It left the four of us trying it earlier this morning speechless!  If this is the kind of Barolo the 2021 harvest can produce, you can back the truck up for us now!  While not the biggest and most robust wine we’ll see from the vintage, its combination of silky fruit, lilting aromatics and palate presence are just stunning.  High toned, expressive and simply a joy to drink, it brought to mind, for me, a combination of the Burgundian finesse and ravishing fruit of a Burlotto Monvigliero and the irresistible savory appeal of a Chiara Boschis Cannubi.  Did I say we liked it?  We did.  I will drink a bottle soon, just because I can’t wait, but this will only improve in the cellar.  What a wine!