Accomasso

Based in La Morra, Lorenzo Accomasso is a cult name in Barolo. Born in 1934, he started working the family vines with his father Giovanni in the 1950s and became the first in the family to bottle wine under their name in 1958, when he released his first Barolo. Since then, he has quietly been crafting classic Barolos that are now some of the region’s most sought-after. 

Production is tiny (just 1,000 cases per year) and the wines haven’t been exported since the 1980s, with Accomasso choosing instead to sell via his cellar door. It is notoriously difficult to get an appointment to taste at this address – with Accomasso effectively off the grid, and his time (and wines) more in demand than ever before – all of which only adds to the wines’ allure. 

Accomasso farms just three hectares around his house in La Morra, much of which sits within the Rocche dell’Annunziata Cru, and abutting the plot of Bartolo Mascarello. The largely old, low-yielding vines are farmed with a sustainable approach. 

Visitors aren’t permitted to see the cellar, so production methods are almost mythical – although undoubtedly extremely traditional, with minimal intervention and technology. Fermentation is in stainless steel and cement, with long macerations (up to 60 days). The wines are aged in large, old botti. He used to then transfer the wines to glass demijohn for additional ageing, and some reports suggest these are still used, while others say he has used concrete tanks since around the year 2000. Some have said that he uses marbles or rocks (rather than additional wine) to top up the casks during ageing. The wines are released only when he deems them ready, and may spend several years more than is legally required in cask before bottling.  

Accomasso makes a Barolo Rocchette Riserva (from a specific plot within Rocche dell’Annunziata), a Rocche dell’Annunziata Riserva, a Barolo Annunziata (which includes fruit from plots behind the winery and house), a Barolo Le Mie Vigne (from a parcel near his home), a “straight” Barolo and Barolo Riserva, a Langhe Nebbiolo, Dolcetto and Barbera Pochi Filagn (meaning “a few vines” in Piedmontese dialect, coming from a handful of rows in Rocche dell’Annunziata). In the mid-2010s, Accomasso had to grub up his Rocchette monopole as the yields were no longer viable – a difficult decision for a man in his 80s, but he has replanted the site.  

These ultra-traditional wines are the stuff of legend. Some suggest the wines are variable, with high volatility, others that they are the very essence of La Morra – and those who follow the wines do so ardently. Almost nothing has changed since Accomasso started making wine in the 1950s, and it’s unlikely it will as long as he lives. He has no children, so these wines are only set to become rarer.