Winemaker Notes
Prunotto Barolo 2021 is deep garnet red with ruby reflections. The nose is complex: aromas of red fruit and floral aromas follow over to notes of spices and impressions of forest floor and plums. The intense palate is characterized by soft tannins and a lengthy aftertaste. Outstanding aging potential.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Light in color but not intensity, this red is elegant, lacy and well-structured. Green olive, cherry, rose and wild rosemary flavors are underscored by a mineral element, while the texture remains silky and the aftertaste long and juicy.
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Jeb Dunnuck
An elegant and sweetly perfumed offering, the 2021 Barolo pours a transparent medium red color and is a bit shy on opening, with notes of clove, strawberries, cedar, and fresh herbs. The palate has a nice level of tension to balance out its more supple Grenache-like fruit, and it has a zesty lift and light saltiness on the finish. It’s a very charming Barolo to drink over the next 10 years.
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Vinous
The 2021 Barolo is a very pretty entry-level offering from Prunotto. Dried cherry, cedar, pipe tobacco and orange peel lend lovely aromatic presence to match the Barolo's mid-weight personality.
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.