Notes from K&L Wine Merchants:

"Nervi is a historic, benchmark Gattinara producer possessing some of the most prized vineyard holdings in all of the appellation. The winery was founded in 1906 by Italo Nervi and is the oldest Cantina in Gattinara, though many of the vineyards had already been in the family dating back as far as 1679. The estate comprises 28.5 hectares of vineyards including their top crus of Molsino and Valferana as well as Garavoglie and Casacce. These are historic crus in Gattinara—mentions of Molsino in town records date as far back as 1471 and those of Valferana date back to 1231! The Nervi family built up the reputation of the estate, running it continually until 1991 when a steel magnate named Germano Bocciolone purchased the estate.

Twenty years later, a group of Norwegian investors led by a passionate wine collector, Erling Astrup, purchased the winery. Astrup endeavored to push the level of quality at Nervi and sought out advice from his longtime friend Roberto Conterno. In 2018, the group decided to sell the winery and, wanting to see it fall into good hands, felt it was best to offer it first to Roberto Conterno. While Roberto had not been actively seeking out a new winery, the opportunity to acquire such a historic estate with great vineyard holdings of Nebbiolo was too hard to pass up. Roberto’s aim, along with his sons, is to apply the same fastidious attention to detail and quality to the wines of Nervi as he does to those of the Giacomo Conterno estate.

Tasting Notes from Vinous:

"The 2016 Gattinara Vigna Valferana is every bit as impressive from bottle as it was from cask. Rich and resonant, the 2016 is so supremely beautiful as it opens up in the glass. It is a wine of real breadth and textural expansiveness. Rose petal, mint, sweet dried cherry, tar, anise and orange peel are some of the nuances that emerge, but the Valferana is a wine to admire for its total sense of balance. In a word: Lights out. Make that two words."