After three decades of buying, selling, drinking, and loving Italian wines, I still get excited when I taste something that feels both completely authentic and totally original.
The 2022 San Lorenzo Alto Bellaluce -- “beautiful light” in Italian -- had that effect on me. One glass in, and I knew I was experiencing a special and very beautiful Nebbiolo, one operating on an entirely different wavelength. After a bit of online research, I realized I wasn’t the only Nebbiolo geek completely geeking out over this wine...
San Lorenzo Alto is a joint venture between photographer Clay McLachlan and Luca and Alfredo Roagna -- yes, THAT Roagna family, the same folks responsible for some of the greatest Barolo and Barbaresco wines on the planet. But this project was really Clay’s dream. In 2015, he planted just over a hectare of Nebbiolo high in the Alta Langa hills near Bonvicino at elevations between 610 and 650 meters; this territory is where you’d normally find hazelnuts or sparkling wine grapes, not serious Nebbiolo.
Working alongside the Roagnas, Clay carefully selected and planted three different Nebbiolo clones across the site based on elevation, soil type, and exposure. The steep southwest-facing vineyard gets full sun throughout the day, but the high altitude keeps things cool, giving the wine its incredible freshness, energy, and aromatic lift.
Farmed organically and biodynamically, these grapes enjoy one of the longest hang times of any Nebbiolo in Piedmont due to the elevation and cool temperatures of the site. Once hand harvested, the fruit is brought to Roagna’s cellars for fermentation with indigenous yeasts in neutral wooden vats with long macerations lasting 30 to 50 days. The wine is then aged for two years in large botti, including a 20HL cask formerly used by Luca for his Asili Barbaresco, before additional bottle aging prior to release.
So what’s this stuff taste like? One word sums it up: SPELLBINDING. Flowing with notes of rose petal, tart cherry, wild strawberry, orange peel, aromatic herbs, and crushed rock minerality, it balances soaring aromatics and mountain freshness with the depth and structure that only Nebbiolo can deliver. Medium-bodied, nervy, mineral-driven, and deeply soulful, this is one of those wines that keeps revealing new layers as it sits in the glass.
Just 5,000 bottles were produced in this vintage, and my Nebbiolo Freaks are going to go absolutely nuts for this wine. Curious? I wouldn’t wait too long to place your order.
Josh Spurling
Owner, Operator, Wine Monger
Table Wine Asheville
