Fontanafredda and their wines Barrbaresco, Pradalupo and Raimonda

Fontanafredda is a big producer in Piemonte who produces many different wines. They have 122 ha of land of which 100 hectares is vineyards. Fontanafredda produces many different wine but here I have only tried three.

Pradalupo is a white wine made from 100% Arneis grapes with an ABV of 13,5% and the vintage 2017. Arneis is the grape and for this bottling all the grapes has come from the Roero hills in Piemonte and therefore the wine is a Roero Arneis DOGC. Unfortunately the grape Arneis production areas continues to decrease but hopefully the world will see what a good wine this grape can give. The Pradalupo wine has a taste of apple, grapefruit, minerals and some citrus. Quite a sharp wine but goes excellent with spicy food.

Next up the the wine Raimonda which is a Barbera D'Alba wine with an ABV of 13,5% and the vintage 2016. This is made from 100% Barbera grapes. Part of the wine is matured in larger oak casks while the remaining wine is matured in smaller barrels (225 l) of medium tosted French and American barrels. Before bottling these two parts are the blended. In the taste I get black currant, plums and then some oak and soft tannins with some bitter almonds at the end. Quite an interesting Barbera and a very good food wine.

The last wine is Barbaresco of vintage 2013 with an ABV of 13,5%. Despite being a famous wine I have drunk very little Barbaresco. As with the more famous Barolo a Barbaresco is made from 100% Nebbiolo grapes. This wine is aged for 12 months in oak barrels and then 12 months in the bottle before being sold. One thing I noticed with this wine was that this Barbaresco gained a lot by having air contact. So I would suggest to open the bottle one or two hours before being served or to decant it. In the taste I get  black currants, leather and some tobacco with tannins at the end. This is a wine that is still developing and is quite strong. Good now and will gain a bit extra with two-three more years of ageing.