SevenFiftyDaily’s Kevin Day starts 2019 with an insightful look at a handful of vineyards throughout the winegrowing world–including Elvio Cogno’s Pre-Phylloxera Barbera– where ungrafted, pre-phylloxera vines are still producing unique, high quality wines.

“Yet pockets of ungrafted vines (often referred to as own-rooted vines) still exist in Europe, usually because of a convergence of terroir and luck.”

“The notable Barolo producer Elvio Cogno tends a small vineyard of centenarian Barbera vines that thrive on an ancient root structure that has somehow survived.”

“It is definitely an unusual Barbera,” says Valter Fissore, the winemaker and co-owner of the Elvio Cogno estate. He adds with a bit of pride that this Barbera is tricky to identify in a blind tasting because of its distinctive sweet spice and a strong graphite note on the back palate. “But it’s difficult to know which one of the vineyard’s characteristics [high altitude, cold climate, sandy soil, or rootstock is responsible for this unique taste,” he says. “It’s probably the combination of all of them.”

Click here to read the entire article