Waterford commentary: "Luigi Pira just may be Barolo’s best-kept secret. "This unassuming winery is close neighbors with some of Piedmont's greatest names: Angelo Gaja, Giacomo Conterno and Domenico Clerico. "Yet Barolo is a traditional place, and Luigi Pira is a traditional man. The custom in Barolo was the farmer, Pira, farmed. The winemaker bought the grapes and made the wine. And even though his neighbors were making hundreds of dollars per bottle of wine from Pira's fruit, it didn't occur to him to vary from tradition. "But it did occur to his son. In 1997, Gianpolo Pira started making wine, and we are lucky for it – because these are some of Barolo’s greatest wines, sandwiched right into the high-rent district of Serralunga, at incomprehensibly low prices. "I mean that. I’ve tasted Gaja’s Sperss – it’s great. I’ve tasted Conterno’s Monfortino – it’s magnificent. Pira’s vineyards are right between the two, and the wine is right on par with these greats."
