Giovanni Canonica, Barolo Paiagallo, 2021 BDXCOUNT0125 and bees doing real work

and bees doing real work in the vineyards)

A challenging vintage that tested even the finest producers—and an opportunity to see what traditional Barolo mastery achieves when nature is difficult

Sury-en-Vaux and Bue

specifically—layered into rum of aged complexity

and a natural tension that translates beautifully into the glass

Giovanni Canonica, Barolo Paiagallo, 2021 BDXCOUNT0125 and bees doing real workThis is the bottle that made Giovanni Canonica a cult. Paiagallo is his home cru, a warm slope tucked just below the village of Barolo, and he treats it the way his grandfather's generation would have: long macerations, big old Slavonian casks, minimal sulfur, no fining, no filtration, no fuss. What comes out is Nebbiolo at its most transparent pale garnet, wildly perfumed, all rose petal and sour cherry and tar, with a tannic frame that is firm