Gramolere, between Gavarini and Bussia

Gramolere sits on a Monforte d'Alba hillside between Gavarini and Bussia. Fratelli Alessandria has bottled this cru since the first vintage in 2001. The family keeps the cellar in Verduno, and the estate vinifies only fruit from its own vines.

What does that Monforte hillside taste like when thyme shows up before the fruit?

Jeb Dunnuck scored this exact bottle, the 2022 Barolo Gramolere, 97 points. Raspberry, flowers, and sage open into blood orange and apricot, the tannins are ripe, and the finish is saline. He drinks it from 2027 to 2045. James Suckling scored the same bottle 94 points on January 12, 2026, when tar, earth, and thyme arrived before the fruit.

About 2 hectares of Nebbiolo

The wine sheet places Gramolere in the municipality of Monforte d'Alba. It is about 2 hectares of Nebbiolo on slightly sandy limestone, and the vines are about 30 years old. The sheet calls the exposure south and west, between 350 and 450 meters.

The vineyard page describes that same hillside running from 470 meters down to 370, facing south and southwest, on ground that was once part of Castelletto. Pickers take the fruit by hand in October. The vines are trained to Guyot, about 4,200 to the hectare.

Three years in large oak, then the bottle

Nebbiolo from this cru ferments and macerates for 22 to 30 days in stainless steel, held between 28 and 30 degrees. The family then ages the wine for 3 years in Slavonian and French oak casks of 20 to 40 hectoliters.

After the casks, the wine rests 2 months in stainless steel, then at least 6 months in bottle. Bottling comes at the beginning of the fourth year after harvest. The estate gives it 15 to 35 years in the cellar. The first Gramolere vintage was 2001.

Thyme before the fruit

Wine Advocate scored this 2022 a 94. The glass is darker than the family's Verduno wines: cassis, pencil shavings, and lavender, from higher ground in Monforte on calcareous sand. Sweet fruit and savory salt trade places through the finish.

James Suckling's 94 is the thyme and the dried flowers, with tannins that stay focused. The Monforte side of the same glass shows dark plum, black cherry, leather, tar, and iron. It is the most structured Barolo in the house.

Wine-Searcher, checked on 2026-10-30, shows a market low of $90.58 and an average of $106.57 for this 2022. The corner above says so.

Verduno, since 1830

The family has kept a house in Verduno since the eighteenth century. Giuseppe Dabbene was here in the late 1700s, and Fratelli Dabbene was established in 1830. In 1893 Clementina Dabbene married Carlo Alessandria, and the name became Fratelli Alessandria.

Gian Battista, his wife Flavia, his brother Alessandro, and his son Vittore are the seventh and eighth generation in that house. They farm about fifteen hectares of native grapes, and they vinify only estate fruit. Antonio Galloni has called Fratelli Alessandria one of Piedmont's quieter jewels. The winery price is $150.

Brasato and agnolotti

The estate sends this wine toward brasato and agnolotti. Braised beef shanks take the herbs and the tannin. Agnolotti del plin takes the same Monforte structure at the table.