The name Conterno is synonymous with some of the greatest Barolo wines from Piedmont in Italy. Poderi Aldo Conterno is the winery created by Aldo Conterno, son of the most famous Giacomo Conterno, when Aldo decided to split from his brother Giovanni in 1969 and set up on his own further to a revealing 5 years’ experience in the US. Wine estates in Italy are very much a family business and the 3 sons of Aldo have now taken over the winemaking and running of the vineyards even if Aldo is still the boss. And the traditional approach remains and is very much key to the success of their wines. While Poderi Aldo Conterno uses a more modern approach with a few of their wines like the Langhe “Il Favot” or Chardonnay “Bussiador” aged in new French oak, their Barolos are produced with the traditional approach. They focus on conveying a sense of place into their wines: maturation in big Slovenian oak barrels before bottling in order to let the specificities of each vineyard speak and not the vanilla or toast of new oak. This is demonstrated by their single vineyards wines Cicala, Colonnello and Romirasco and also by their flagship wine Granbussia. I caught up with Franco Conterno in London, one of the 3 brothers who explained to me what their philosophy is, and also why Barolo is Barolo… Picture below - Franco Conterno in London in January 2009                 Olivier Bourseau: Franco, you are part of a very important family of winemakers which has been making wine for 5 generations. Did you decide to work with the family because of your passion for wine or was it for another reason? Franco Conterno: When you are young, you want different experiences. My father never pushed us into wine, because he thinks that the most important secret in life is to do what you like, and this is a good philosophy! We are three brothers in the family: Stefano the winemaker always wanted to make wine since he was a baby, and Giacomo had always been involved in the winery also, and doing accounting as well. The only one who was different was myself. I started with classic studies and then realised that wine was a passion really. When you like what you do, it is a great thing. So I came back and started some oenological studies to become a winemaker. Now I deal with public relations at the winery. Each one of my brothers and I have a different job: one in the winery, one in the office and the vineyard, and me outside. This is a good combination, and my father has remained the owner and boss of the winery. O.B: Your family and farm, Poderi Aldo Conterno is one of the most renowned in the Barolo area in Piedmont, and your Barolo wines are some of the best in the area. Could you explain to us the magic of your “terroir”, or the combination or grape variety, soil and climate and why the "terroir" of Langhe is so special? Franco Conterno: There are different characteristics with regards to soils and “terroir” in each and every area on this planet as far as wine is concerned. You can for instance plant the same grape variety everywhere in the world but then the soil and micro climate makes the difference. So for instance, the best place in the world for Pinot Noir is Burgundy. Speaking about the Nebbiolo as a grape variety, I think it is possible to make good wine with it in other parts of the world. But the characteristic and style of wine we make with Barolo in the Langhe area is found in the Langhe area only. Because for me the Nebbiolo is very similar to the Pinot Noir and Langhe is very similar to Burgundy. In the world you can find good Pinot Noir, and you can find good Nebbiolo wine too, but the Burgundy wine and the Langhe Barolo are another thing. And the difference comes from the soil mostly, and the micro climate as well but nothing else. The technique in the winery could be the same everywhere. Nebbiolo is always Nebbiolo, so the big difference is the soil and micro-climate. This is the only secret. Picture below - Cicala Vineyard owned by Poderi Aldo Conterno in Bussia. OB: You make wines from your single vineyards called Romirasco, Colonnello and Cicala like they do in Burgundy, and also a mix called Granbussia. In the case of Granbussia, could you explain the blend of 70% or Romirasco, 15% of Colonnello and 15% of Cicala? Franco Conterno: All the vineyards we own are located in the Bussia near the village of Monforte D’Alba. Bussia is an area, or “Cru” in Monforte d’Alba. And Monforte d’Alba is one of the 11 villages located within the Barolo area. Bussia is at the border of Castiglione Falletto, so we are really in the heart of the Barolo area. We make 3 different wines coming each from a different single vineyard which are called Cicala, Colonnello and Romirasco. We decided to make the Granbussia as a blend because we wanted to focus on the Bussia soil, and for us, the best solution is to mix the 3 different single vineyards. And we called it Granbussia, because it has to represent the best you can get in the area. So we had to mix and use our 3 vineyards in order for the wine to represent the whole area. Our 3 different vineyards have got all different soils. All of them are clay dominated soils but the Colonnello is sandier, Cicala is richer in limestone, and Romirasco has got diverse soils and is more or less a blend of the 3. This is the reason why for us Romirasco is the best vineyard between the 3. And by blending we get the elegance in the wine. 70% of Grandbussia is made from Romirasco vineyard because it is the best vineyard that we own. It is the highest with regards to elevation in the Bussia area, and it provides the best you can get with regards to soils. Then we have 15% of the Colonello because it is very aromatic, especially the fruit of the Colonello is unique, and then we have 15% of Cicala as it provides power thanks to the limestone component. O.B: There are different styles of Barolos. Some winemakers are using more new French oak and they are called the modernist, and you use the big Slovenian barrels to not mark the wine with too much oak. Could you explain the reason behind? Franco Conterno: We decided to use the big Slovenian oak barrels at first because this provides the taste that my grandfather passed on to my father and then my father passed on to us. When you are used to taste something which is like “family” to you, you don’t want to change because it is your acquired taste. Maybe it is not the taste of everybody’s but it is the one from our family. The second important reason is that we prefer to taste the Nebbiolo grape more than the taste of the toasted oak or the taste of the vanilla coming from the oak. And another reason is that all of our vineyards are in the Bussia area and the vineyards are very close to each other. The only small difference is the micro element in the soil. And we need to find these differences in the wine when we taste it and the big barrels are better suited to convey the subtleties of the soil into the wine. The smaller “barriques” (oak barrels winemakers in Bordeaux use) are great because some of the best wines in the world like the French wines are matured in barriques, but for the Nebbiolo we think that big barrels are better. We produce 5 different labels of Barolo and we want to convey the place where they are coming from and less so the oak. O.B: With regards to vintages, you had difficult ones in 2002 and 2003 when you decided to not produce Barolos. And the 2004 was at last very good. How about the most recent ones like the 2005, 06 and 07? Franco Conterno: 2005 was a good vintage but the wines really depend on the winemaker. So the 2005 vintage will be good with the producers who were good in the winery. The weather was a little difficult in the area. 2004 was easy and everybody made some good wine. 2005 was different because we had problems with rain especially in the last part of the harvest. The first part of the harvest was great though. So we used grapes we had harvested before the rain. And so the production of 2005 was smaller but we are sure about the quality. It is not a “big” vintage like 2006 or 2007. It is more elegant than big. But it is very elegant and not as rich as 2004, 2006 or 2007. 2006 was very classic, rich in body, and it could be like 1989. It could be one of the best in the last 10 or 20 years. 2007 is also very good but sweeter, with sweet tannins, and feels more modern then. The winemaking is the same but the vintage was easier and the result is a bit more modern. 2008 will be elegant and balanced and very similar to 2005. But again balanced because we do not have the same alcoholic degree as 06 or 07 when we got to 14 to 14.5%. We are at 13.5% which is very correct. Much more elegant than rich and powerful. O.B: Away from Barolo and Piedmont, which are the wines and wine regions which you really like in the world? Franco Conterno: Speaking about red wine, the best is Burgundy. In fact we love Pinot Noir, and we love the Pinot Noir from Burgundy. We also tasted other Pinot Noirs in the world but for us Pinot Noir is Burgundy. That’s it, there is nothing else to say. Even with regards to white wines, Montrachet for us is the best white wine. In fact our Chardonnay is made with the same winemaking style used to make Montrachet. It is not like Montrachet though because Montrachet is Montrachet, it is unique but we try to make piedmont’s chardonnay in the style of Montrachet with the same winemaking because this is the type of chardonnay that we love. And then Champagne is Champagne! I love Champagne! O.B: Thank you very much Franco!