Giuseppe Rinaldi

My fondest memory (and I can’t believe I’ve lost the photo) was when he stood next to me with a gun and said “let’s go to Brussels and shoot all those bureaucrats”. He was joking of course but was also evidently upset at the change of law which didn’t allow him to keep multiple vineyard names on his labels, Brunate Le Coste and Cannubi San Lorenzo. Sadly we lost ‘Il Citrico’, the acerbic one, in 2018. He was a staunch socialist and traditionalist highlighted by his famous ‘No Barrique – No Berlusconi’ labels which is only one of the labels that he painted himself and now are collector’s items. His two daughters, Marta and Carlotta, are running the property with incredible skills and respect for their father’s winemaking approach. The properties wines are some of the most sought after in the region and now command very high prices indeed.

My greatest tasting memories include some Brunate Selecione Riserva 1985 and 1989 as well as the brilliant Barolo 1999s from both Cannubi San Lorenzo and Brunate Le Coste.