Same Shirt. Different Year. Same Paolo.
It's hard to believe it has been more than six years ago that I made a prospecting call on a young couple that had just started a winery in the frazione of Sorano, a commune of the charming village of Serralunga d'Alba. This is the heart of Barolo country. It was the hottest day of 2019--July 22nd, and I don't care if I ever feel heat like that again for the rest of my life (fat chance of that, probably).
The following day, Paolo and Cristina Baudana wrote me an email, attaching their price list, and proposed selling us some wine. At some point during that infernal tasting, I knew what a find we had stumbled upon. Paolo was pulling corks and describing his wines with an animated glee, Cristina disappeared and eventually returned with their newborn on her hip (that boy just started school this past month!). We chatted into the early evening, talking about their project, life in the quiet Langhe, and burning the memory of the visit into my brain and my palate.
Since that incredible day, we have purchased wine, reliably, twice each year from the Baudanas. And with each of our orders, they have watched something like a quarter of their annual production disappear onto our refrigerated truck and make its way around the world to Oregon. They began their project in 2014 and were promptly greeted with a zero vintage, a catastrophic start that featured cold and rain, and they sold their entire crop without processing or bottling a single drop. The following year was better, and they began making their first tiny bottlings--200 of this, 400 of that. The minuscule quantities are hard to fathom. Especially because this was their new livelihood.
I'm proud that our little operation has grown along with them during that time, and that they are one of the linchpins of the work we do in Italy.
I returned to Serralunga the following summer, and every summer since. Each return trip has been 10 degrees Celsius cooler (and still felt pretty hot), but I am always reminded within 5 minutes why their wines have gained so much traction among the Cru faithful. Because every single bottle is freakin' delicious!
About an hour into a visit a few years ago, I had a notebook full of praise for the new vintages and a plan for the year ahead. So over a second (and third) taste of today's wines, and along with some cheese and salami, I got out my phone to take some photos. And that's when I realized something...
Some people wear perma-smiles. And others wear shirts they've owned for 20 years. Paolo Baudana does both. And even once I showed the photos to Cristina, and she roared with laughter, he maintained his good nature and made something up on the fly about it being his lucky shirt. "I wear this shirt, you give us big orders," he finally exclaimed. "I know what I'm doing here!"
Here are two wines to enjoy any day you feel like slipping into your own favorite 10-year-old shirt...
Contrada di Sorano
1) BARBERA D'ALBA SUPERIORE SOTTOSOPRA 2021
Blended from two different small vineyard sites near Serralunga d'Alba
"Sotto" from a low-lying parcel, and "sopra" from a high terrace,
Together they make Sottosopra--"upside down"-- just like our allocation!
Just 450 bottles produced
2) LANGHE NEBBIOLO 2021
From vines near Serralunga d'Alba planted by Paolo the year they began in 2014
A wine made in a truly small batch, in old neutral barrels
Filled with a glorious salad of red fruits and just a hint of dusty tannins
Ready to drink now, youthful, bright, and delicious, with mouthwatering and savory aromatics
A mere 700 produced!