Silvano Bolmida Barolo Bussia Riserva DOCG, 2015

This wine is a SHOW STOPPER.  If you can get a bottle Silvano's 'Riserva' tucked in your hot little shopping cart, onto your dinner table, and into your glass, you might just count me as one of your best friends...and, all I did was tell you about it!

Silvano Bolmida is a teacher...indeed, a professor at the local university for winemaking.  I do not have the chance to harvest or make wine at this point in my career...instead of worrying about the lessons I might be missing, I study Bolmida's wines.  He teaches me something new with every bottle.  We do not always have the opportunity to offer Silvano's Riserva; he makes the wine only in what he considers to be exceptional vintages.  NOT to be missed!

“The 2015 Barolo Bussia Riserva is one of the most beautiful wines I have tasted from Silvano Bolmida. Dried cherry, herbs, spice, leather and a whole range of floral notes give the 2015 its striking aromatic depth. Open, resonant and engaging, the 2015 is absolutely delicious now. I imagine it will drink well for another 15-20 years, maybe more. This is such a gorgeous and expressive Barolo.” 95 Points, Antonio Galloni, February 2021

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From our importer:

“Il Barolista dell’Anno 2012” Enogea Magazine by Alessandro Masnaghetti:
In the Langhe there is no shortage of great wines. The focus for us has always been on delivering those with both great Value and Typicity as well. Every now and then one stumbles across a winery that delivers Quality, Typicity, Value and is quite unique as well. This tiny, eponymously named artisanal winery delivers it ALL! From 5.5 hectares situated primarily in Monforte's most prestigious cru, Bussia, comes an array of wines that are unmistakably Barolo, yet somehow present a unique textural quality quite unlike any I've seen before. Silvano spent a decade experimenting with methods to bring out the maximum expression of his unique slice of Bussia. His methods are not easy to classify by any readily known terms such as Traditional or Modern. Classifying the results is far easier. Stupendous and absolutely delicious!

Aside from fastidious cleanliness, the two major areas where Silvano veers off onto his own path are extended post fermentation macerations and elevage. In an era where macerating for 30 days is considered quite traditional, what do you call it when one leaves the wine on its skins for up to 95 days? But then the wine goes into 100% French Barriques for the first year, none of it new, and specially treated to provide maximal micro-oxygenation and minimal oak flavor infusion. These are stunning and very unique wines that represent great value in the ever escalating Barolo zone. Bussia is one of the largest “Cru” vineyards in Barolo. Accordingly there is quite a good deal of style and quality variation as one moves from section to section. Silvano’s section is the highest in altitude of the whole thing sitting directly above Pianpolvere Soprano. His elevage for this wine always takes a little more time. The wine itself, more still. This deep, brooding Barolo has an elegance, even with its weight, like all Silvano’s wines. Macerated for 80 days on the skins and aged in neutral barriques for one year on its’ lees, then 14 months in 30 Hl “tini” While we at Artisan have been fans since we first tasted the wines, sometimes the Press is slow to come around, but come around they have!