2021 Fontanabianca Bordini Barbaresco Piedmont 750 ml

Fontanabianca doesn’t just make wine from the Bordini hill—it is the Bordini hill. The estate sits in the hamlet of the same name, just outside the village of Neive, and the Pola family has been farming this sorì since Franco Pola made his first bottle of Barbaresco here in 1969. The name itself comes from a natural spring in the valley below—fontana bianca, white fountain—that the villagers of Neive drew water from for generations.

Franco’s son Aldo and his wife Luisella consolidated the estate in 1990, bringing in renowned enologist Beppe Caviola to help shape the wines. By 1998 Fontanabianca had earned its first Tre Bicchieri from Gambero Rosso. Now third-generation Matteo Pola is at the helm, having worked alongside his father since 2013 and overseen a full rebuild of the winery in 2017. Three generations, one hill.

The Bordini is a sorì—a south-facing slope where sunlight hits early and hard, the ideal exposure for Nebbiolo in this part of the Langhe. It sits at around 300 meters on clay-limestone soils laced with veins of sand, close enough to the Tanaro River to catch a touch more warmth than the surrounding land. The vines are 50 to 60 years old, their roots reaching deep into that limestone to pull up the minerals that give the wine its characteristic lift and length.

Winemaking here is deliberately unhurried: traditional fermentation in wooden vats, followed by 12 to 15 months in large, neutral oak casks. The goal is to let the sorì speak, and in 2021, it had quite a lot to say.

The vintage gave Barbaresco producers everything they needed: a mild, wet winter that replenished soil water reserves, a hot dry summer that concentrated flavor and tannin, and a late harvest under ideal conditions. The result was wines of unusual finesse and depth—ripe, structured, and built to age. At the Bordini, where old vines and limestone soils tempered the heat, the 2021 is both powerful and precise.

In the glass, expect aromas of red berries, red roses, exotic spice, and blood orange peel, with a hint of tobacco. The palate is broad and layered—compote fruit, stern but fine-grained tannins, and a long, spice-driven finish.