Winemaker Notes
An explosive energy of Serralunga d’Alba with grace and vigor. Black cherries, wild berries and plums with menthol, sage and saline notes. Pure ardor.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Cerretta is one of my favorite sites in Serralunga d'Alba because it consists of vines wrapped around a hilltop with various exposures. For that reason, Cerretta wines can vary widely from producer to producer. The Azelia 2019 Barolo Cerretta has dark fruit and spice, but the bouquet is mostly colored by flinty mineral tones, smoke and pencil shaving. It offers terrific balance and also manages some softly perfumed notes of violet and blue flower that you don't get in the other wines. It sees 50 days of extended maceration and 30 months of aging in large oak casks.
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Decanter
This Cerretta blends a graceful nose with a powerful and youthful palate. Sweet violet, restrained red currant, cinnamon candy and a soapy, rose character on the nose lead to a crisp attack with firm, velvety tannins. It's thick on the finish yet soaked with citrus and leafy flavours. Fermented with indigenous yeast and aged for 24 months in botti.
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James Suckling
Perfumed with sliced raspberries, violets and strawberries as well as hints of orange. It’s medium-bodied with firm and fresh tannins that are chewy. Bright acidity. Energetic wine.
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Wine Spectator
A lean, sinewy style, this red suggests cherry and strawberry fruit shaded by mint, cumin and tar accents. Though energetic, the finish is currently dominated by dense tannins. Requires patience. Best from 2027 through 2045. 400 cases made, 120 cases imported.
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.
