Meeting Giulia Negri in person is an unforgettable experience. How can anyone so vivacious and sporting a smile so wide and genuine be so serious and accomplished a winemaker?

Well, those dancing eyes, in addition to radiating an intense joie de vivre, also radiate uncommon intensity and intelligence. This is a person who clearly needs to be taken seriously. After taking degrees in both management and biology, she strode off the family farm in La Morra to Burgundy to learn the winemaking trade and began a love affair with the elegance and refinement in the wines she found there. After her apprenticeship, she returned home to take over the family cantina from her father in 2014 at the ripe old age of 24.

With an eye toward adding a bit of finesse and panache to the family business, in a very short time, the woman locals lovingly call ‘Barologirl’ created for herself an unequalled reputation for independence, meticulousness and, most importantly, creativity. Discovering that the small French oak barrels her father had used made wines that showed too much wood and too little elegance, she stopped using them for Nebbiolo and installed larger, neutral casks to age and refine the fruit she grows on her privileged parcel of the Serradenari cru. One of the most unique MGAs in Barolo, Serradenari crests the spine of La Morra hill and is the highest site in the entire zone.

As such, it’s also one of the coolest, best ventilated vineyards in the appellation—perfect for dealing with these recent torrid summers, and the recent trio of harvests in 2019, 2020 and 2021 have been the best they’ve ever had. Nebbiolo is what Giulia does best and, in addition to two Barolos from separate parts of the cru, she makes a sensational Langhe Nebbiolo as well.

The vines reserved for this cuvee come from an even cooler cleft in the Serradenari hill that produces a less intense but much more vivid version of the grape, perfectly suited for making an immediate-gratification sort of wine that captures all of the variety’s aromatics and texture without its prodigious tannin and searing acidity.

The perfect weight for quaffing, a whiff of cherry confit leads the way into a lithe, thoroughly charming wine that also shows hints of cedar, balsam, cinnamon and dark chocolate. Ready to go now, it needs only a quick pass through a decanter to delicately plie into your glass alongside woodsy mushroom dishes, burgers or chicken off the grill and even a marinated flank steak.

And, you know what, for wine made solely from Nebbiolo, it drinks pretty nicely all by itself too! A nice discovery and a worthy house red candidate. We love Giulia! Very highly recommended.