Piero Busso: in the vineyard we trust
We talk a lot about rising stars, most notably those making wine in Burgundy. To what extent this conversation is motivated by overzealous importers hoping to augment the price of producers with which they were able to secure an allocation is debatable. Having already, by any reasonable objective measure, risen, there are those estates where with the passing of the baton from parent to child there is a substantive shift in quality. Though the Busso family have cultivated vines since the 1950s, it was not until 1978 that Piero Busso, Guido Busso’s son, overwhelmed by hireathic yearning for the Langhe, ceased selling the families grapes and began making wine, labelling his first Barbaresco in 1982. Over the following two decades, Piero purchased plots in a handful of laudable vineyards, including a plot in Gallina, in 1999, followed twelve months later by San Stunet. In 2010, Piero’s son, Pierguido, alongside his father, sister, Emanuela, mother, Lucia, took over the day-to-day running of the estate. The estate’s quality had long been recognised, Pierguido’s father was somewhat ahead of his time in his manner of working in the vineyard. However, since 2012 a distinct amplification of quality is recognisable in both the vineyard and in the glass. Inspired by a handful of iconic winemakers, Pierguido is fastidious and exacting, his philosophy is one of precision and respectful management of the land. I spoke to Pier, exploring the estate and his influence in more detail.