Italy · Langhe

Sottimano

Family estate in Neive making single-cru Barbaresco from five named parcels, all farmed organically and bottled without fining or filtration.

The producer

Rino Sottimano finished oenology school in the late 1960s and started making wine from a single plot in the Barbaresco zone. Over the decades that followed, he and his wife Anna worked through the Neive and Treiso hillsides, acquiring parcels in several of Barbaresco's named crus. Many of those original plantings from the 1970s and 1980s are still in fruit. Rino's children Andrea, Elena, and Claudia now work the estate alongside him in vineyard and cellar. All 19 hectares are certified organic.

The estate produces five single-cru Barbaresco DOCG wines from Nebbiolo: Basarin, Cottà, Pajorè, Fausoni, and Currà. Every wine goes through the same cellar: oak-vat fermentation with indigenous yeasts, 20 to 22 months in oak cask, bottling without fining or filtration. Some of the parcels sit within 200 metres of each other on the same hillsides. That uniformity is a deliberate choice. Whatever differences appear between the five wines have only one origin: the soil, the slope, and the aspect of each hill.

Known for

Five-cru Barbaresco DOCG from Nebbiolo, certified organic, unfined and unfiltered

Notable facts

The story

Five Hills, One Cellar

When Rino Sottimano had assembled all five of his Barbaresco crus, he made a decision that most estates do not: every wine would go through exactly the same cellar. The same oak vats. The same 20 to 22 months in cask. The same bottling without fining or filtration. No adjustments between parcels, no tweaks to compensate for a softer or a harder site. Some of those parcels sit within 200 metres of each other on the Neive and Treiso hillsides. The proximity makes the method a direct comparison of neighboring sites, and that is how the lineup is understood by those who taste it: line up all five Barbarescos and whatever differences you find between them are not Rino's choices. They belong to the slope, the soil, and the aspect of each hill.

From the atlas

Sottimano

At A Glance

Producer: Sottimano Village/Township: Neive and Treiso, Barbaresco DOCG Country: Italy Region: Piemonte Grape: Nebbiolo Crus: Basarin, Cottà, Pajorè, Fausoni, Currà Farming: Certified organic Cellar: Indigenous yeasts, oak-vat fermentation, 20 to 22 months in oak cask, no fining, no filtration

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The Producer

Rino Sottimano completed his oenology studies in the late 1960s and started making wine from a single plot in the Barbaresco zone. That was the whole estate. Over the decades that followed, he and his wife Anna worked plot by plot through the Neive and Treiso hillsides, acquiring parcels in several of Barbaresco's named crus. Several of those early plantings, laid down in the 1970s and 1980s, are still in fruit.

Today the estate farms 19 hectares across five crus: Basarin, Cottà, Pajorè, Fausoni, and Currà. Rino's children Andrea, Elena, and Claudia now work the estate alongside him in both vineyard and cellar. All five vineyards are certified organic.

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Place

Barbaresco DOCG covers a cluster of hillside communes in the southern Langhe, south-east of Alba: the Barbaresco commune itself, plus Neive, Treiso, and San Rocco Seno d'Elvio. Nebbiolo is the only permitted grape. The wines must be aged at least two years before release, with at least nine months in wood, and single-vineyard or cru bottlings sit at the top of the hierarchy.

Sottimano's estate sits in the Cottà locality of Neive, and all five of its crus fall within Neive and Treiso. The two townships occupy the eastern side of the Barbaresco zone, where the Tanaro river defines the valley floor and the vineyards climb the slopes above. Neive and Treiso together produce a large share of the appellation's cru-labelled wines, and the cluster of crus here means that neighbouring parcels can share a hillside and still produce measurably different wine.

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Soil And Site

The five crus sit across the Neive and Treiso townships, some within a few hundred metres of each other on the same hillsides. Basarin, Cottà, and Pajorè fall within or near Neive; Fausoni crosses the Neive and Treiso boundary; Currà lies in Treiso. Specific parcel-level geology is not documented for each cru in the estate's published materials. What is recorded is the range of aspects and exposures that five separate plots on two neighbouring slopes can carry, and the estate's deliberate method of keeping cellar variables constant so that each site can be compared directly.

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Story

Rino's path from oenology school to a five-cru estate took most of a working lifetime. He began with one plot and extended the holdings one acquisition at a time, choosing parcels in the crus he considered worth the investment. His wife Anna was central to those decisions. Many of the original 1970s and 1980s plantings were already old vines by the time the third generation arrived.

The organic programme was not a recent repositioning. Sottimano has maintained certified-organic management across all its vineyards for over forty years. The approach in the cellar followed the same logic: minimal intervention, indigenous yeasts, no fining, no filtration. Andrea, Elena, and Claudia came into a farm that already had its method established. They work within it, alongside Rino, rather than away from it.

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Vineyards And Cellar

Organic certification covers all 19 hectares. In the vineyard, natural grass cover grows between the vine rows and is mowed two or three times annually; every other inter-row is tilled during autumn to manage soil compaction. No synthetic treatments are used.

In the cellar, fermentation takes place in oak vats with indigenous yeasts. The wine spends 20 to 22 months in oak cask before bottling. Every wine is bottled without fining or filtration, which means the wine in the bottle carries exactly what the fermentation and cask produced: nothing has been stripped or clarified. The same process applies to all five cru Barbarescos. This is deliberate. If every Barbaresco goes through the same oak vats, the same cask time, the same unfined bottling, then whatever differences appear in the finished wines have only one origin: the vineyard.

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Wines

Sottimano produces five single-cru Barbaresco DOCG wines, all from Nebbiolo:

Barbaresco Basarin is grown in Neive. Old-vine Nebbiolo from one of the estate's earliest-acquired parcels.

Barbaresco Cottà is the home cru. The estate sits in the Cottà locality, so this wine is grown on the hillside immediately surrounding the winery. It is typically described as having a warm, rounded character with ripe red fruit, firm tannin, and good depth from the old-vine material.

Barbaresco Pajorè comes from a parcel in Neive or Treiso. The 2021 vintage, reviewed at 14.5 percent alcohol, showed concentrated dark fruit, firm tannin, and a long finish with the acidity to develop over several years.

Barbaresco Fausoni spans the Neive and Treiso boundary, giving it exposure to two slightly different slope positions.

Barbaresco Currà comes entirely from Treiso, the most southerly of the two townships, where the hill positions differ from those in Neive.

All five share the same cellar method. The only variable between them is geography.

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In The Glass

Nebbiolo from old parcels in Neive and Treiso, fermented with indigenous yeasts, aged in oak cask for nearly two years, and bottled with nothing removed. The profile is classic Barbaresco: dried rose and violets on the nose, red cherry and a trace of tar, then firm, grippy tannin in the mouth and a long finish sharpened by firm acidity. The oak time contributes body and some secondary notes of tobacco and earth without pushing toward overt wood flavour. The unfined bottling means the wine arrives with full textural weight. These are wines that reward food and some patience in the cellar; the tannin and acidity mean they stay fresh over a decade rather than fading.

Across the five crus, the differences are incremental rather than dramatic: a little more softness in one, more aromatic lift in another, a denser mid-palate in a third. The cellar holds constant, so the variation you taste is entirely what the soil and slope deliver.

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A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Barbaresco Pajorè. It is a single-cru Nebbiolo from the Neive or Treiso hillside, aged in oak for 20 to 22 months, and bottled without fining or filtration. The 2021 vintage sits at 14.5 percent alcohol and is already open, with the fruit and acidity to develop further. The palate is concentrated: dark cherry, firm tannin, a long acid-driven finish that keeps the wine from feeling heavy. It is a direct expression of what Sottimano does without any intervening cellar adjustment. Open it alongside a Barbaresco Cottà if you can find both; the contrast between the home cru and a neighbouring parcel makes the estate's point about sites and cellars more clearly than any description can.

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Anecdote

When Rino Sottimano had assembled all five of his Barbaresco crus, he made a decision that most estates do not: every wine would go through exactly the same cellar. The same oak vats. The same 20 to 22 months in cask. The same bottling without fining or filtration. No adjustments between parcels, no tweaks to compensate for a softer or a harder site. Some of those parcels sit within 200 metres of each other on the Neive and Treiso hillsides. The proximity made the method a direct comparison of neighboring sites, and that is how the lineup is understood by those who taste it: line up all five Barbarescos and whatever differences you find between them are not Rino's choices. They belong to the slope, the soil, and the aspect of each hill.

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Final Word

Sottimano is a family estate that built itself one parcel at a time and now farms five named Barbaresco crus with the same organic method it has used for over forty years. The uniform cellar approach is not a constraint; it is the editorial argument the estate makes with every vintage. Five hills, one treatment, five wines that still taste different. Start with the Pajorè and follow the differences across the range from there.

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Sources

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