2020 Giacomo Fenocchio Barolo Bussia 750 ml

Bussia is one of the most acclaimed sites in the Piedmont, a Grand Cru by anyone’s standards. The conditions that define the famous Bussia cru of Monforte d’Alba—ample sunshine, a mix of lean and fertile soils, and a cool, moist climate—arguably produce some of the most structured, towering expressions of Nebbiolo in northwest Italy. It’s a site that’s one of the most prized in Barolo, famous for wines like Aldo Conterno’s $800 Granbussia and Giuseppe Rinaldi’s $500 Bussia bottling.

Just as the Barolo of Giovanni Cannonica or Burlotto, the Fenocchio wines have been made the same way for ages. Then, one day, the wine world woke up to the quality coming out of their cellar door. And like Cannonica and Burlotto, demand for their wines is skyrocketing.

Giacomo Fenocchio started his eponymous domaine in 1964, from family holdings. The modern renaissance began when young Claudio took over the estate, after his father’s untimely death in 1989. Modernist Barolo was all the rage at the time, and names like Altare and Voerzio were attracting big praise and record prices for their barrique-aged bottlings.

But Claudio’s focus never wavered. He made resolutely old-school bottlings throughout the 90s, focusing on organic farming, long macerations, and aging in the traditional giant casks known as botti.

By the early 2000s, he started to gain a few influential fans. Italian-wine expert Kerin O’Keefe was an early champion: She named him one of her favorites, alongside icons Giacomo Conterno and Bartolo Mascarello in her seminal book Barolo and Barbaresco. She declared that Fenocchio is “a master at crafting classic Barolos that beautifully express their pedigree…his noninterventionalist approach in the cellars ensures that their individual terroirs shine through.”