Francesco Clerico Barolo DOC "Vigna Colonnello" 2011
Francesco Clerico’s grandfather purchased the land of the current vineyard in Monforte at the end of the late nineteenth century with a house and winemaking cellar dating back to 1870. A century later, Clerico’s father took over the winemaking, but never released the wine commercially under his own label. Young Francesco had left his small village in Bussia for a career as a policeman in Torino. But he continued to return to his family’s farm and remained involved with the vineyards.
Before taking over the vineyards, Francesco Clerico came to the conclusion that he would only use copper and sulfur in the vineyard. Traditional viticultural practices would be the standard with the exception of an old tractor. In the cellar, Clerico prefers long macerations and protects the wine from oxygen as much as possible once fermentation nears completion, favoring a long-term and steady evolution of the wine. The wines age in 20HL botte made of Durmast oak and a minimum of six months in bottle. The wines are never fined or filtered.
