Why it matters
The producer
At Azienda Agricola Gillardi, Barolo production sits beside a Syrah planting made by Giacolino Gillardi. In 1993 he planted Piemonte's first Syrah plot using cuttings from Auguste Clape's estate in Cornas in the Northern Rhône. The vine source is Rhône, while the planting is Piemontese. Barolo and Syrah share the estate, but they enter the bottle under different names.
Syrah could not initially be declared on the label, so the wine was named HARYS, Syrah spelled backwards. The reversed spelling keeps the grape name present without printing Syrah plainly. HARYS records both the label constraint and the Cornas source of the cuttings.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Barolo is a place based appellation, and Gillardi's bottle carries La Morra in its name. The place term belongs to the Barolo wine, while HARYS identifies the other bottle through Syrah. One label names a place; the other names a grape in reverse.
Wines to know
The range in view
Gillardi's named wines cover a Barolo with La Morra in its name and the Syrah called HARYS. Barolo La Morra comes from vines more than 40 years old. The grapes are hand picked, stems removed, and fermented with indigenous yeasts in temperature controlled steel tanks. The wine then spends 36 months in Slavonian botti, large oak casks used for extended ageing. Plum and black cherry meet violet and sweet herb notes in the glass.
HARYS is the Syrah bottle. Syrah is a dark skinned red grape that contributes colour and tannin to red wine, while HARYS carries the variety through a reversed name because Syrah could not initially be declared on the label. The range places a Syrah wine identified by its grape and label wording beside a Barolo named for La Morra.