2007 Poderi Oddero Vigna Rionda Barolo Riserva

The 2007 Vigna Rionda is an occasion unto itself: a perfectly cellared, mouthwatering Barolo from a revered producer, and a vintage that yielded “viscerally thrilling wines,” according to Antonio Galloni.

Collectors tend to pounce on the classics like this before their already limited productions find their way stateside, but we nabbed an allocation from Oddero—one of Piedmont’s most historic estates, and one of the hardest to procure. That’s because Oddero’s are some of the most classically made wines we know, with a brooding structure that only starts to unwind with age. Released ten years after harvest (and held back for two more in the importer’s climate-controlled cellar), this 2007 Vigna Rionda is a powerful red that shows the density and the energy of Nebbiolo.

There’s a serious vigor to the intensely perfumed bouquet of dried black cherry and floral rosehip, violet and bergamot. Luxurious truffle and dried herb aromas further draw you into a thrilling palate that’s just hitting its stride, with blackberry, leather, tilled earth, and clove coming to the fore, while a structural chorus of gripping tannins and lifted acidity crescendos into the minute-long finish. Though it’s drinking perfectly now, this will easily stand up to another 15-20 years in the cellar. Just like classic Barolo should. 

Wine critics often distill the magic of Barolo wines like these into technical terms: how the Helvetian soil (with the highest limestone content in the entire Barolo zone), the “perfectly combined elements of cool and warm vintages,” and the stylistic approach of Oddero resulted in a “full bod[ied], layered and intense” 96-point wine. But Oddero has another powerful force influencing its wines’ outcome: the family tree. Decisions large and small—both in the vineyard and in the cellar—often come down to how the previous seven generations saw things. 

93-year-old Giacomo Oddero remains the heart and soul of both the estate and of Piedmont (he is as passionate about the research and preservation of white truffles as he is about Barolo). An ardent traditionalist, he developed an unmistakable house style by insisting on longer macerations to extract as much character as possible from the grapes, and then élevage in large casks with minimal oak influence (never using new oak). His daughter Mariacristina, her niece Isabella, and Isabella’s son Pietro now run the estate, remaining faithful to Giacomo’s techniques, with the only modernization coming in the form of organic farming. 

With over 200 years of history in Barolo, Oddero was one of the first to bottle and sell wines with the Barolo name on them, and Giacomo’s grandfather was involved in mapping out what would become the Barolo DOCG in the late 1800s. The estate exported to the United States even then(!), such was their renown. 

The legacy lives on today with wines like 2007 Poderi Oddero Vigna Rionda Barolo Riserva. For decades, Oddero has sold only to their most loyal clients, refusing to expand production (only 230 cases of this wine were produced), which is why they’ve become (relatively) little known outside of the most ardent Barolo collector circles. 

But you needn’t be an expert to enjoy this truly textbook vintage Barolo from what could go down as Piedmont’s vintage of a lifetime. We couldn’t be more thrilled to offer it to you today.

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 15.00%
• 1 hour
• Now – 2038
• % Nebbiolo
• Serving temperature – 58°
• Cork