Umberto Fracassi, Favorita, 2022

Umberto Fracassi is a small, family-run producer based in Cherasco on the western edge of the Barolo zone. Production is very modest and focused on honest, site-expressive wines — from white Favorita to Barolo from the family’s parcels (including the small Mantoetto monopole for their Barolo). The estate works with traditional, low-intervention techniques: hand harvesting, careful pressing and straightforward cellar work that favours stainless steel for the whites and limited oak for reds, producing wines that are fresh, savoury and increasingly sought after outside the locality. Fracassi’s labels are often only available in small quantities, so they can be hard to track down.