Rizzi

Rizzi is a Treiso estate in the Barbaresco zone of Piedmont, better known for its Nebbiolo-based wines, but also home to one of the Langhe's more interesting Chardonnay stories. Ernesto Dellapiana was an early pioneer of Chardonnay in this area, planting vines back in 1978 on cooler, less-sunny slopes that he judged better suited to the grape than the prized Nebbiolo sites.

The approach in the cellar is deliberately restrained: no new wood, just temperature control and care, producing a taut, mineral white with citrus character and good acidity. Rizzi demonstrates that Piedmont's Chardonnay, from the right site and with the right hand in the cellar, can be a more serious proposition than the variety's Italian reputation sometimes suggests.