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Cappellano Pie Franco 2pk
150 cases made. For the entire planet. Get one.
LEGENDARY
Mystic · Legendary · Barolo Unicorn
Producer
The Cappellano family of Serralunga d'Alba is one of Barolo's great traditionalist estates, famous for their Otin Fiorin bottling from the Gabutti vineyard. The Pie Franco — ungrafted, pre-phylloxera vines on their own rootstock — represents something almost impossible to find in modern wine: a direct connection to how Nebbiolo tasted before the twentieth century changed everything.
✨ Mystic· 🌘 Dusk
Mystic primary — ungrafted pre-phylloxera Nebbiolo producing approximately 150 cases per year globally is as transformative as wine gets. The Pie Franco is not merely a great Barolo — it is an experience unavailable anywhere else on earth. Dusk secondary — the structure, tannin, and brooding depth of great Barolo underpin everything here, just at a level of intensity and complexity that goes far beyond the appellation's normal range.
Tasting note
One bottle each of 2007 and 2008 Cappellano Pie Franco Barolo — Michet clone Nebbiolo planted onto its own rootstock, from the Gabutti vineyard in Serralunga d'Alba. Approximately 150 cases produced annually for the entire world. The sensory experience has been described, memorably, as comparable to a full-body orgasm. Stored professionally since release.
Details
Grape Nebbiolo
Region Barolo · Serralunga d'Alba
Vintage Mixed
Country Italy
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    Potion Collector

    Cappellano Pie Franco Barolo — 2pk

    Cappellano Pie Franco Barolo — 2pk

    $1,999.00 USD
    $1,999.00 USD
    Sale Sold out

    Includes one bottle each of 2007 Cappellano Pie Franco Barolo and 2008 Cappellano Pie Franco Barolo

    Michet clone Nebbiolo planted onto its own rootstock which produces a wine sensory experience one might concievably compare to a full-body orgasm.

    Approximately 150cs are produced annually for the entire planet.

    From FineWineGeek.com:

    Otin Fiorin refers to the specific parcel in the Gabutti Vineyard owned by Cappellano.

    Piè Franco refers to the vines within this parcel which were planted with European root stock in 1989.

    Michet refers to the particular clone of Nebbiolo used in these 1989 plantings.

    • Around 1985, Teobaldo Cappellano purchased a 10-acre (4-hectare) parcel in the Gabutti vineyard in Serralunga d'Alba from a farmer named Fiorin. Teobaldo named this parcel Otin Fiorin, meaning Garden of Fiorino. The winery had been buying grapes from this parcel since 1976.

    • Starting in the late 1980s, Cappellano began labeling its estate Barolo with both Otin Fiorin and Gabutti (sometimes Collina Gabutti).

    • In 1989, Teobaldo replanted approximately one third of his Otin Fiorin parcel in Gabutti with Nebbiolo vines grown on European root stock using the Michet clone of Nebbiolo. Note that the vast majority of vineyards used to make quality wines around the world are planted using American root stock due to Phylloxera.

    • In 1994, 1995, and 1996, a wine from only this one third was bottled and labeled with the word Franco under the words Otin Fiorin. Franco here connotes European root stock. (See below.)

    • Starting with the 1997 vintage, the wine from only this one third has been labeled with the phrase Piè Franco - Michet at the bottom of the label, while the remaining two thirds of the wine is labeled Piè Rupestris - Nebioli.

      • Piè Rupestris here refers to American root stock and Nebioli indicates that the clones in this portion of the vineyard are a mix of various Nebbiolo clones.

      • Piè Franco indicates European roots stock and Michet refers to the specific clone in that parcel. I had read that Franco here connotes European root stock because Franco means French, but it does not. As pointed out to me by Keith Levenberg, Franco means free or frank as in a frank person. So Piè Franco means free foot. As pointed out to me by Jeremy Parzen (an expert in Italian linguistics), a good colloquial translation of Piè Franco would be free standing, that is the root is not altered (i.e. grafted). In response to my question, Jeremy went into much more detail on this phrase and usage in his blog, Do Bianchi.

      • You can see the difference in labeling between these 2 estate parcels in this photo of the 2001 Rupestris and Franco.

    • It is also starting in 1997 that Cappellano has dropped all use of the vineyard name Gabutti from its labels, only using Otin Fiorin to refer to its parcel within Gabutti. The reason for this is that Teobaldo was unhappy with the expansion of the borders of Gabutti and some of the wines made under this name.

    • In a typical vintage, fewer than 9000 bottles of Rupestris are made and fewer than 2000 bottles of the Franco.

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