Winemaker Notes
Aldo Conterno’s Barolo Bussia is produced from five hectares of prime vineyards in Bussia Soprano, the original section of what has become a rather large vineyard in recent years. These five hectares are spread across three separate parcels with vines averaging 35-40 years old, with no vines younger than 20 years old.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Cherry and plum fruit highlight this rich red, with supporting notes of vanilla, toast, blueberry, iron and tobacco. Brooding tannins mark the finish, yet this has all the elements.
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James Suckling
On the nose this may not be a dramatic wine, but it's fresh and floral. It has a quiet confidence that is missing in many of the 2014 Barolos. On the palate, the turbocharger kicks in. The wine's impressive tannic power leaves most of the competition behind it, but there's real finesse at the long finish. Drink after 2020.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Poderi Aldo Conterno's 2014 Barolo Bussia is a transparent wine, and I don't mean to use that word to describe the wine's appearance or its light color saturation. This Barolo is transparent in terms of its elegance and fragility. The wine offers a silky, fine texture that acts as a springboard to aromas of dried blueberry, cassis, menthol, herb and dried ginger. These aromas are ethereal and fleeting. This Barolo sees 26 months in oak and completes its final stage of integration in stainless steel before bottling. This vintage saw longer maceration times, up to six weeks in the case of this Barolo. That extended time on the skins is meant to protect the wine against the fragile nature of the vintage. A fresh and fruit-filled mouthfeel makes for an open and immediate wine.
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.