2017 Barolo Paiagallo, Giovanni Canonica

Hidden legend, tiny output, pure tradition - sensational price.

2017 - Barolo Paiagallo, Giovanni Canonica

Special Release – £650 per 6 in bond, down from £850.

High above the cobbled lanes of the village of Barolo, Giovanni Canonica tends a vineyard so small you could walk its length in a couple of minutes. Barely 1.5 hectares cling to the steep Paiagallo hillside at 350 to 400 metres, a sun-washed slope facing south east with a perfect balance of clay and sand. Two other producers, Marchesi de Gresy and Fontanafredda, own vines here, but they blend their fruit away. Giovanni bottles his alone, creating a Barolo of haunting individuality.

Canonica farms as if time stopped a century ago. No herbicides, no pesticides, no synthetic fertilisers, only the old Bordeaux mix of copper and sulphur. Nebbiolo occupies the choicest rows while a tiny patch of Barbera supplies wine for family meals. Every cluster is harvested by hand.

In the cellar beneath the family agriturismo, the grapes are foot-pressed and destemmed, then left to ferment for 30 to 40 days on indigenous yeasts. There is no temperature control and no laboratory tinkering. After a slow vertical press, the wine rests in silent cement tanks and large 20-hectolitre Slavonian oak botti, maturing for a minimum of three years with just a whisper of sulphur.

The 2017 Paiagallo is a textbook expression of this higher altitude western Barolo commune, where Tortonian soils lend grace and perfume. The wine opens with the firm, confident grip of classic Nebbiolo tannin before unfolding into waves of black cherry, rose petal, menthol and wild herbs. There is a cool lift of sage and cinnamon, a flicker of tobacco, and a finish that seems to hover between power and weightless elegance. It is a wine that keeps you poised between tension and serenity until you realise you are drinking something inevitable.

Production is microscopic; only a few thousand bottles leave Giovanni’s cellar each year, and most never leave Italy. For decades, Canonica refused to court export markets, preferring to sell to neighbours and friends. Only in recent years, after persistent requests from importers and collectors, has he allowed minute allocations to trickle beyond Barolo’s borders. Even now, the wine is virtually unobtainable.

This is not simply another Barolo. It is a one-man vineyard chronicle, a living record of Piedmont’s most traditional methods and a striking reminder of how pure Nebbiolo can be when freed from fashion. For devotees of Bartolo Mascarello or Giuseppe Rinaldi, Canonica belongs in that same rarefied company.

After years of patience and persuasion, we have secured a small parcel of the 2017 vintage. To celebrate, we are offering it at £650 £650 per 6 in bond, down from £850, which is a rare chance to experience one of Barolo’s most elusive treasures.