92 points Vinous Media

The 2021 Barolo del Comune di La Morra is a superb appellation-level wine. Floral and silky on the palate, with fabulous persistence, the 2021 exudes class from start to finish. This has come together beautifully over the last year or so. Specifically, the tannins that were a bit troublesome before have begun to integrate into the wine's fabric. The essence of La Morra in a glass.

94 points Wine Advocate

The Crissante Alessandria 2021 Barolo del Comune di La Morra blends Lampia and Michet to produce a classic and well-proportioned expression of the vintage. Brilliant ruby in color, the wine shows depth and energy with crunchy fruit, balanced alcohol and chalky tannins that provide both freshness and structure. Naturally fermented and put aside for a long resting time in bottle, the wine reflects La Morra’s mineral-rich soils and water-retentive conditions, which lend tension and vitality. This is an 18,000-bottle release.

Crissante Alessandria is a family-run winery in La Morra, today led by Alberto Alessandria, who assumed the winemaking baton from his father and continues the legacy founded by his grandfather, Crissante Alessandria, in 1958.

Alberto represents the eighth generation of the Alessandria family to make wine, and while he has modernized the estate with clonal precision and technical experimentation, he remains deeply committed to what he calls the most essential value of all: “rural farming traditions.”

Since joining in 2005, Alberto has focused intensely on vineyard work, developing an intimate, plant-by-plant understanding of the family’s 6.5 hectares, which are interspersed with hazelnut groves and forest. His approach to farming is meticulous and highly controlled, reflecting an obsessive attention to detail, particularly when it comes to Nebbiolo clonal selection.

Alongside Nebbiolo, he is experimenting on a small scale with Pinot Noir, using whole-cluster and semi-carbonic techniques as a way to explore finesse and aromatic lift.

The estate has steadily expanded its cru portfolio, beginning with the introduction of Monvigliero (Verduno) in 2020, followed by the addition of Villero and Rocche di Castiglione (both in Castiglione Falletto) starting with the 2023 vintage. A further site, Lazzarito (Serralunga d'Alba), will debut with the 2024 vintage and is scheduled for release in 2028, reinforcing the estate’s growing emphasis on site-specific expression.

In the cellar, Alberto favors transparency and restraint. Fermentations are spontaneous in stainless steel, often preceded by cold maceration, with gentle pump-overs carried out twice daily. Particular care is taken at racking, which is done by hand to avoid damaging the skins, followed by an extremely soft pressing at just 0.2–0.3 bar to extract only the free-run juice. Any wine that has been pressed harder is discarded.

"Better to make a better grappa than a poor second wine,” he says with a laugh.