Winemaker Notes
Intense garnet red color. Rich and complex bouquet of sweet spices, dried flowers, leather and undergrowth. Harmonious, well structured with elegant tannins and great balance and complexity.
Pair this wine alongside roasted, skewered, and grilled red meats and ripe cheeses.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Ascheri 2016 Barolo delivers a classic interpretation of the Nebbiolo grape, albeit with a plump and fruit-forward slant. The wine opens to dried cherries and blackberries with balanced background tones of spice, tar, leather and ash. These ethereal tones add to the elegance and depth of the wine. The character of this Barolo is dark and solid, making for an ideal medium to long-term proposition. When the wine is ready to drink five years or more down the line, I'd suggest a pairing with a heavier pasta dishes or risotto with wild porcini mushrooms. The earthiness of those foods would work nicely against the savory side of this sturdy Barolo made with a blend of fruit from three comuni or villages (45% Serralunga d'Alba, 40% La Morra and 15% Verduno). Winemaking is simple, with a short fermentation time lasting about 12 days in stainless steel, followed by 22 months of aging in large Slavonian oak casks (with 70% used and 30% new oak). This was bottled in December 2019
-
Wine Enthusiast
Intensely fragrant, this has enticing aromas of graphite, chopped mint, forest berry and new leather that practically leap out of the glass. Mirroring the nose, the chewy, vibrant palate delivers raspberry compote, mature black cherry, cinnamon and star anise along with an earthy hint of game. Firm tannins and fresh acidity keep balanced. Drink 2024–2036.
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.