The 2016 Nebbiolo is a lovely ripe true to style Hilltops Nebbiolo. These vines are meticulously looked after throughout the growing season. It is interesting to consider when the winemaking begins for such a great wine - Is it when the grapes reach Bryan at the winery or perhaps when "Windows" prunes the vines in Winter, or is it when the vines were planted by Mark, John, and Michael and there families. Or did this wine have its beginning when the soil was taking formation, obviously all the above and much more was involved in the final wine, so please enjoy, respect and linger over all that goes into each bottle as we have.

Young, vibrant, lively and fresh, Longview Fresco Nebbiolo is an unwooded wine. It's made in the Vino Novello style (immediate drinkability) using fruit sourced from Longview's single vineyard at Macclesfield. Showing a youthful red colour, the wine gives off aromas of cherry-cola, with lifted fragrances of spice, roses and violets. The lip-smacking palate welcomes you with cherry and strawberry characters rounded with ripe tannins and well balanced acidity. Ultimately, the wine takes you to a savoury and edgy finale. This Adelaide Hills Nebbiolo can be enjoyed with a bowl of pasta, or rich duck egg ravioli stuffed with wild mushrooms.

ELIO ALTARE La Villa Rosso, Langhe DOC The Elio Altare Langhe La Villa comes from the La Morra sub-region. Only 200-250 dozen bottles are produced each year from Nebbiolo and Barbera grapes planted on south-east facing slopes. The vineyard, on clay and tufa stone soils, is farmed organically, but along traditional lines. The grapes are crushed and then macerated on skins for 3-4 days in temperature-controlled rotary fermenters before fermentation using indigenous yeasts. The wine is matured for 18 months in new French oak barriques before bottling unfined and unfiltered. The Elio Altare La Villa shows an intense, ruby-red colour and equally intense aromas of plums and berries, plus rose petals. The palate typically shows fresh red fruits, balanced tannins and attractive acidity boosted by the Barbera component.

In 2011 we started to think and act organic in the vineyards (officially certified since 2016). In 2015 our evolution continued with the introduction of a Biodynamic approach to the entire property. Key changes to improve the ecosystem include, adding trees and plants in the vineyards, introducing a green garden, and building birdhouses. While we have always sought balance in the vineyards, we now look for it in every part of our environment. For us, that means no chemical weeding, no systemic anti-parasite treatments, and no chemical fertilization. In addition, we plant barley, oats, and clover between the vines to revitalize the soil. To keep soft the soil not to stress the roots of the vines. We use corroborates to reduce chemical treatments and we even make our own compost. To promote as much biodiversity as possible we practice farming diversification by incorporating other crops. Finally, we always bottle with the energy of the waning moon.

The 2015 Parussi is bursting with lovely juicy, wild forest fruit and grenadine notes underpinned by an intense, mineral freshness and fresh walnut-like tannins. A beautiful Barolo that closes with a super long, mint-and-lavender-and-cherry-scented finish. The iron-rich, 'blue clay' soils here are a little lighter, more oxygenated, with more silt and less clay than Serralunga. This makes for more vigour in the vines and a completely different style of wine. The Massolino family were attracted by the excellent south-easterly and south-westerly exposure of the vines, the vineyard's situation at 300 metres above sea level on the crest of the hill, and the 45-year-old vines. Today, they are the only Barolo producer to bottle a single vineyard wine from this cru. A traditional Barolo, 15-20 days of fermentation and maceration at 31-33°C; aged in oak barrels for about 30 months and left to mature in bottles placed in special dark, cool cellars for about a year. Founded in 1896, Massolino Winery, is based in and around the town of Serralunga, one of the prime sub-zones of the Barolo DOC. The Massolino familys greatest asset is of course their 23 hectares of (mostly) Serralunga vineyards, including choice parcels of such famous sites as; Margheria, Parafada and the legendary Vigna Rionda. We say mostly as the Massolino clan recently purchased a slice of the Parussi cru in Castiglione Falletto. Serrralunga, on the eastern edge of the Barolo DOCG, produces some of most profound and long lived Barolo. It is the home of great names such as Giacomo Conterno and Bruno Giacosas Falletto vineyard. The wines often have an extra stuffing of intense Nebbiolo fruit as well as a remarkable minerality that plays on both the freshness of the tannins and gives the wines a certain ferrous edge when young. It is fair to say that Massolino holds the most remarkable collection of vineyards in Serralunga, amongst the smaller, quality focused producers anyway. The quality strides at this estate over the last 10-15 years have been remarkable with significant advances made, particularly in the vineyards. Certainly there has also been refinements in the cellars, firstly by Franco Massolino and then by current winemaker Giovanni Angeli (ex Vajra) who has been working with Franco since the 2005 harvest. As always however, it has been the work in the vineyards and the search for expressive and perfectly ripe fruit that has driven the rise in quality at this estate. The resultant improvement here has been very good news for both the commune and Barolo in general. Today the wines of Massolino sit comfortably among the finest of the region they are wines of wonderful purity and elegance. They are exclusively aged in large casks, so they are traditional and yet they offer the best of the old and new worlds: pure, aromatic, textural, deeply flavoured wines that are at the same time precise, vibrant and distinctly regional. These are wines that score extremely highly on our deliciousness scale. Equally important, these wines are remarkably well priced when compared to the other top producers of the area.