Winemaker Notes
Elena is the daughter of co-owners, Valter Fissore and Nadia Cogno. The vineyard for this wine was planted when Elena was born, and is dedicated to her, as is the wine. The label is a drawing of a chick that Elena made for her mother and father when she was just three years old. (She is now the professional designer of all the winery’s labels.) This label has been the symbol of the wine ever since its creation many years ago. This Barolo Riserva is produced only in great vintages.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of fresh mushrooms, blackberries and blueberries. Dried orange peel, too. Full body and a dense and rich palate. So much tension and muscle. Impressive. Drink in 2020 but already gorgeous.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2011 Barolo Riserva Vigna Elena is a pure expression of the Rosé clone, a subvariety of Nebbiolo that is seeing a small but steady upswing in popularity. This wine is only made in the best vintages and it was not produced in 2008 or 2002. It probably will not appear in 2014 either, I'm told. But the 2011 vintage is well worth your attention. This is a deep and brooding wine that carries its extra weight and volume with the grace of a classic ballet dancer. There is ample power and determination here that will undoubtedly carry the wine forward in its aging trajectory.
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Wine Enthusiast
Forest floor, grilled herb, dark spice, eucalyptus and wild berry aromas fill the glass. The structured palate delivers dried black cherry, crushed raspberry, licorice, sage and pipe tobacco while taut noble tannins provide impressive support. It's savory and full bodied but also boasts an irresistible, almost weightless elegance. Drink 2020–2030.
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Wine Spectator
Floral, macerated cherry, licorice and soy flavors mark this fresh, harmonious Barolo. Firm, with a lingering finish, yet fluid and almost approachable now. Should hit its stride in a year or two. Best from 2019 through 2035.
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Decanter
Gently extracted with a 30 day submerged cap post fermentation, the Vigna Elena is aged in large 40 hectolitre Slavonian oak casks. A very pale ruby colour and intensely floral aromas convey the distinct character of Nebbiolo Rosé. Notes of sweet spice, pink peppercorn and mint blossom are carried by surprisingly soft tannins, yet while captivating and pretty it doesn't quite have the poise and precision of the 2010. Drinking Window 2019 - 2034.
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Wine & Spirits
This 2011 offers plenty of immediate appeal, with rose-petal scents, lush fruit and rounded tannins. Notes of braised fennel and licorice layer through flavors of soft cherry and baked strawberry that reflect the warm growing season. Decant this to open up those floral tones.
The Cogno family has been making wine for four generations in Piedmont. In 1990, Elvio Cogno left a long and fruitful partnership with the venerable Barolo producer Marcarini at La Morra and bought a splendid, historic 18th-century farmhouse on the top of Bricco Ravera, a hill near Novello in the Langhe area. (Novello is one of the 11 communes in which Barolo is produced.) The farm was surrounded by 11 hectares (27.18 acres) of steeply sloped vineyards. Elvio restored the manor, converted the old granaries to wine cellars and founded his eponymous winery. For the next 20 years he devoted himself to the winemaking traditions handed down to him by his father and grandfather.
Elvio, in turn, has now passed the torch to his daughter, Nadia, and her husband, Valter Fissore, who has worked beside Elvio for 25 years. Following in the footsteps of Elvio the maestro, Elvio Cogno winery continues to produce elegant wines without altering the traditions, styles and flavors of the Langhe, with its breathtaking quilted landscape and unique grape varieties.
The Elvio Cogno winery sits at the top of Bricco Ravera, a hill near Novello in the Langhe area of Piedmont, one of the 11 communes in which Barolo is produced. Ravera is the finest cru of Novello, encircling the top of the hill and the winery, reaching a 380-meter (1,246-foot) elevation, with breathtaking views in all directions.
Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.
The center of the production of the world’s most exclusive and age-worthy red wines made from Nebbiolo, the Barolo wine region includes five core townships: La Morra, Monforte d’Alba, Serralunga d’Alba, Castiglione Falletto and the Barolo village itself, as well as a few outlying villages. The landscape of Barolo, characterized by prominent and castle-topped hills, is full of history and romance centered on the Nebbiolo grape. Its wines, with the signature “tar and roses” aromas, have a deceptively light garnet color but full presence on the palate and plenty of tannins and acidity. In a well-made Barolo wine, one can expect to find complexity and good evolution with notes of, for example, strawberry, cherry, plum, leather, truffle, anise, fresh and dried herbs, tobacco and violets.
There are two predominant soil types here, which distinguish Barolo from the lesser surrounding areas. Compact and fertile Tortonian sandy marls define the vineyards farthest west and at higher elevations. Typically the Barolo wines coming from this side, from La Morra and Barolo, can be approachable relatively early on in their evolution and represent the “feminine” side of Barolo, often closer in style to Barbaresco with elegant perfume and fresh fruit.
On the eastern side of the Barolo wine region, Helvetian soils of compressed sandstone and chalks are less fertile, producing wines with intense body, power and structured tannins. This more “masculine” style comes from Monforte d’Alba and Serralunga d’Alba. The township of Castiglione Falletto covers a spine with both soil types.
The best Barolo wines need 10-15 years before they are ready to drink, and can further age for several decades.