Inside Barolo: A Conversation with Winemaker Gian Luca Colombo
Bordeaux Index
11 March 2025
Gian Luca Colombo is the talk of the town in Piedmont. The architect of the neo-classical style of Barolo, he has been at the forefront of the effort to bring the region’s long winemaking traditions into the modern day. Our Italian Buyer, Alex Aldersley-Hey sat down with him to talk all about his career to date, and his vision for the future.
Winner of the Gambelli Young Winemaker of the Year in Italy, over the last two decades Gian Luca has been a huge presence behind the scenes of Barolo, guiding agronomists and winemakers towards a more silky, perfumed style of wine. His impact has been subtle but incredibly significant. Since 2016, Gian Luca has also taken to producing a tiny production of wines under his own label ‘Segni di Langa’ - quite literally garagista wines made in his garage - which are spectacular. Each bottle is labelled with his own fingerprint, revealing his very personal approach to Barolo.
Ciao Gian Luca, it’s a real pleasure to talk all things Barolo with you. You grew up in the Langhe but, you didn’t inherit any vineyards or have a family winery, what did your path into wine look like?
My grandparents were poor farmers in Treiso (Barbaresco) with grain, animals, and a few vineyards. When I was not even five years old, I remember asking for tools so that I, too, could work on the family farm. But it was a long and difficult path that led from childhood to becoming a wine consultant, and now also owning my own winery. When I was 14, I wanted to be a pilot, and then a lawyer, but after a teacher challenged whether that was the right direction for me, I changed course and started to study oenology at Alba - mainly because many of my friends were doing that. What really hooked me was the real-world application of studying viticulture and winemaking.
Unlike my classmates, who mostly came from established family-owned wineries, I had to look for a job, and in 2003 I was offered a position in the wine lab of Giuseppe Caviola, an important consultant winemaker in Italy. [Caviola has made wines at Elvio Cogno, Vietti, and Luigi Pira in Piemonte, and Orma, Sette Ponti and Castiglion del Bosco in Tuscany – among many others. - AAH] The awards began to arrive, and I was named Best Italian Wine Researcher in 2010 - a side project with a colleague saw our Pinot Noir win the top prize in its very first vintage - and for me my proudest moment was winning Young Winemaker of the Year in 2014. My career was really launched by working with the top consultant Gian Franco Cordero [whose extensive list of clients includes Francesco Rinaldi, Vajra, and Castello di Neive - AAH] who gave me direction as a young man, and let me focus on Barolo. I am full of praise about how much I learnt in this period but was keen to set up my own winery.
How have you found making wine under your own label, rather than consulting for other winemakers?
Working for myself allows me to take risks. I can go beyond my limits, and experiment. Most importantly, I have a deeper connection with the vineyard and the winemaking outcome. This is priceless. The results of all the decisions made in the vineyard are in the glass, and having made them all myself gives me a much broader and more complex view.
How would you describe your guiding philosophy for Barolo? Is there a particular style you set out to achieve?
I don't like to follow trends. I find that it reduces creativity and my personal impact. I need to translate my emotions and my love for this world in a liquid form. My wines are partly a planned project, especially vineyard planting, pruning etc., and partly pure instinct, driven by gut decisions. I do not have a “technique” as such; we need to know how to listen, to understand what is happening in that vintage. Someone called my style “neo-classical,” maybe it is true. For me, adherence to terroir, vintage and varietal characteristics are the only things that matter in a wine. Sure, I have inspirations, but I have my own path, which is constantly evolving. My greatest fear is stopping and never changing my mind.
We’re very excited about the 2021 vintage. How was the season for you? Does it remind you of any previous vintages?
The 2021 vintage was not an easy year in the vineyard. The final pre-harvest phase was exceptional, but the grapes carried the heat of the summer with them. The 2021s are very complex, layered Barolos, which is a great thing. Lots of aromas, concentration, and the tannins are all there - the aging potential is high. There’s definitely a warmth underneath. It’s very different to cooler vintages (2016, 2013, 2010, 2008 etc.), but also to most of the warmer years. There is a little something that reminds me 2017, but really 2021 is on a path of its own.
You're located in the North of Barolo, in Roddi. How does this area differ from other parts of Barolo?
Yes, most of my vineyards are in the northern area, I have others. The Barolo area is very complex, geologically and climatically. There is a tendency to simplify, but not everything can be simplified. For example: my Langhe Nebbiolo vineyards are adjacent to Verduno, on laminated St. Agatha Marls, the same as the Ravera cru’s. Yet the wines are extremely different in composition, flavour profile, and colour. You see, soils play a key role. But so does climate, which is different in each valley of Barolo. There are 1,000 different microterroirs. The northern zone tends to give wines with softer tannins, more fruit and herbal character. These wines tare more ready to drink young, which I think helps with their popularity. They are not simple; they are naturally finer.
You are a big fan of Stockinger barrels for maturation, and you even have a few amphora. How do these different vessels impact your winemaking?
I found a balance with the Stockinger wood. I don't know if it's the best, it's certainly the one I relate to the best and it helps me achieve my goals. It manages to respect the aromatic notes of my wines, it is never intrusive. Stockinger is very consistent in quality, too. I think wineries today need to have a different approach, and work with all kinds of containers: concrete, terracotta, steel, large wood, barriques, oak vats. Vintages are different to how they were in the past, so in my opinion we have to think differently. There is no right and wrong container. For example, the quality amphora gives oxygen to the wine, but it does not add aromas or tannins. Just as concrete theoretically isolates, it does not conduct electricity, but the oxygen exchange is negligible.
The first wine you actually made under your own label was a Pinot Nero, but you work with all the traditional Piemontese varieties, even Pelaverga which is now quite rare! How do you balance the use of autochthonous and ‘international’ varieties together in expression your particular site?
Pinot Noir is an absolute necessity for me. It forces me to confront my limits. It is the most difficult variety in the world, in the vineyard and in the cellar. It’s taught me a lot and the lessons I’ve learned have helped me improve my approach to native varieties. I grow it on very specific plots, which are cooler and with less sun exposure. The Pelaverga Piccolo is an amazing variety, it produces graceful, fresh, pleasant wines. I grow it in the Verduno DOC area, the same place I grow Nebbiolo, on the border between Roddi and Verduno. It is not easy to interpret it well and to make it a serious , complex wine. I look for the depth of terroir in each wine, Pelaverga included. My territory provides this depth and I have the duty to bring it to the bottle.
Do you have any plans to expand the range? What about white wine?
I always tell myself I produce too many wines. But I would try anything. I've been thinking about a white wine for a long time. I'm very intrigued by Caluso's Erbaluce, I think it could potentially rank alongside the greatest whites from beyond the Alps. But I don't yet have the business structure to be able to manage a vineyard so far from my home.
What country, other than Italy, would you make wine in if you could?
France, without a doubt. Obviously I’d have a lot of fun in Burgundy but that’s a bit of a boring answer. I adore the South West, with bush vine vineyards and lots of local varieties. I would also love to spend some time in Portgual – I’ve tasted some excellent whites from the Douro.
What wine is in your fridge right now?
My Dolcetto d'Alba. It's a super contemporary wine (interpreted well). It goes very well with our cuisine and is not seasonal - it drinks well all year round and is absolutely delicious. Outside of Italy I drink a lot of Loire Whites, German Riesling, Tavel, reds from the South-West of France, and Rhone Syrah. Burgundy is too expensive these days!