Fall Season Kickoff - Barolo Manzone
(Sign up to receive Open Tuesday offers like this one by text or by email.)
Wine friends,
Welcome back to Open Tuesday!
Our upcoming fall offer season promises a few wine surprises – starting with today’s glorious wines from Barolo’s Giovanni Manzone.
I’ve long been a huge fan of Manzone. The quality is unquestioned and the prices are reasonable. Sounds perfect for Open Tuesday, right?
Yes, but…demand is fierce for top examples of elegant-style Barolo like Manzone. And Giovanne and his son Mauro Manzone only make about 60k bottles a year.
I always figured Manzone was a long shot. Definitely a “reach” producer.
As luck would have it, Paolo Boschis accidentally intervened. As I tasted through his ever-impressive Dogliani Dolcetto lineup last year, Paolo offhandedly lamented how he and his good friend “Giovanni” in Monforte were working on a tractor later that evening, yet the two were hopeless as handymen.
Me: “Do you mean Giovanni Manzone, the Barolo producer who makes Gramolere and Castelletto? The Giovanni Manzone who farms vineyards adjacent to the legendary Bussia vineyard? You know him?”
Paolo: “Yeah, that’s him. Do you want me to introduce you? I don’t think they have much wine available to sell though.”
Me: “Yeah, that might be nice. Fingers crossed, maybe he has a few bottles.”
The introduction eventually happened and I visited Manzone just a few weeks ago. When I mentioned that OT ships wines directly to customers, by air, from Italy, Mauro Manzone was in. (The Boschis endorsement certainly didn’t hurt!)
Today, I couldn’t be more proud to offer these Giovanni Manzone wines to Open Tuesday members.
Thanks again (for the tractor story), Paolo!!
Giovanni Manzone - 2019 Barolo Gramolere
Manzone’s 2019 Gramolere is a medium- to full-bodied, harmonious and stately red wine made from Nebbiolo grapes in the superb 2019 Barolo vintage. It shows classic Barolo notes like cherry, rose, and porcini mushrooms, with mesmerizing flavor depth, elegance, and persistence.
The Manzone estate is located in Monforte d’Alba at the peak of the Castelletto frazione (small district). Its cru Gramolere vines sit on the “Barolo side” of the estate, located here, adjacent to the Barolo Bussia vineyard. The other main Manzone Barolo label is Castelletto, a vineyard that sits on the “Serralunga side” of the estate. (Look for a 2019 Castelletto Barolo offer in the spring.)
In most vintages, to include 2019, Gramolere is the more approachable of these two Manzone Barolos when it’s young. Ideally, you’d be able to open 2019 Gramolere and 2019 Castelletto side-by-side, perhaps as early as late 2025.
You can expect to pay $60 and up for this wine at other retailers.
Giovanni Manzone - 2021 Langhe Rossese Bianco Rosserto
Manzone’s Rossese Bianco is a truly unique white wine that will surprise you with both its drinkability and complexity. It shows prominent notes of peach and cantaloupe with hints of hazelnut and biscuit, all underpinned by a fresh saline backbone.
There are only six known producers of Rossese Bianco in all of Italy. Over the last few decades, Manzone has led the effort to resurrect and promote this expressive indigenous Piedmont white wine. This is what the wine looks like in a glass. On the palate, it reminds me a little bit of Diego Rivetti’s Arneis, a wine many of you know. However, Rossese Bianco seems to age into a more herbal wine after a few years in the bottle, adding enticing aromas of dried rose petal and petrol.
Giovanni Manzone - 2022 Barbera d’Alba Le Ciliegie
The 2022 Manzone Ciliegie Barbera is a juicy and crisp full-bodied-yet-fresh red wine made from grapes sourced on steeply-sloped estate vineyards. This lovely Barbera is a great choice for weeknight drinking. According to Mauro Manzone, it pairs exceptionally well with tagliatelle, white meats, and ravioli with a red sauce.
This is what the wine will look like in your glass. Le Ciliegie means “the cherries” in Italian. The wine shows a vivacious fruitiness and a masterful simplicity.
To order, just click one of the blue links above and follow the prompts.
Here’s Manzone on the map of northwestern Italy.
To see what the biggest names in the international wine press have to say about Manzone, please check out the first page of the winery website. Scroll down to “References.”
Wines purchased through Open Tuesday will be sent directly from Italy, by air, in a temperature controlled environment. No hot warehouses, and no retail shelves.
Happy Tuesday,
Chris
If you have any questions or feedback, please email us: [email protected].
Receive a $25 credit for every referred member after the purchase of their first bottle.
How it works:
After clicking one of the links above, you’ll be able to request 1-12 bottles. Actually, that’s all you have to do!
About a week later, when we close the offer, you’ll get an email confirming how many bottles we allocated to your account. We will charge you when the wines are allocated.
We’ll do our best to allocate all the bottles you request. When there are more requests than bottles available, we’ll allocate one bottle to all requesting members before allocating a second bottle to anyone. We want as many members as possible to try these wines.
This is the first offer of our 2024 fall season. In September and October, we’ll send 18 wine offers to Open Tuesday list members.
We ship in increments of 12. With 18 offers this season, there should be plenty of chances to get to 12, 24, or 36.
If you don’t have an increment of 12 at the end of this fall season, we can hold your wines until the spring offer season.
Wines offered in the fall will ship in November for $5 per bottle (if you have an increment of 12.) This is about the same as the price to ship coast-to-coast within the U.S. – but our wines come directly from Italy.
Once your payment method is on file, you can make future requests with just a few clicks from the offer email. If you don’t have a card on file, you can add one during your first order. Your personal financial information is protected by Stripe.
Chris MacLean
Rob Genova
Open Tuesday Wines S.r.l.s.
Milano - Italy