Chardonnay from Neive, four months on the fine lees and entirely without oak. Fruity and broad at once, with more body than the price suggests. The 2023 is drinking at its best.
Pale straw yellow with a green rim. The nose is pronouncedly fruity: yellow apple, pear and melon, with a floral lift above and the faintly creamy, yeasty undertone that makes this wine broader than the average Chardonnay at this price. The palate is soft and full, its middle given texture rather than sharpness by the lees; the 2023 is a touch tauter and fresher than the vintage before it. The acidity is rounded and the finish closes dry with a light note of almond. Serve at 8 to 10 degrees, no colder: below eight you lose exactly the creamy mid-palate this wine depends on.
Cantina Francone has worked out of Neive, in the heart of Barbaresco, since 1892. Five generations on, Marco and Fabrizio Francone run the family estate, whose reputation rests above all on the Gallina hill: a south-facing cru listed on Renato Ratti's historic map of Barbaresco crus.
Dellerose comes from chalky parcels in the commune of Neive, on a site chosen for its exposure rather than its convenience. Chardonnay grows there among the Nebbiolo, which in Barbaresco is the exception rather than the rule.
Picking is by hand around 10 September. Pressing is slow and gentle, and fermentation proceeds gradually at about 18 degrees — low enough to hold on to the fruit aromatics.
The wine then rests four months on the fine lees. No oak, no malolactic conversion to strip the fruit away: only that lees ageing, which gives the wine its breadth and depth.
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