Winemaker Notes
A cuirassier. Fleshy, extremely focused. Here Serralunga d’Alba is present with signs of licorice, spices and dark fruits. Cherry, currant and blueberry melt harmoniously together.
Velvety and sweetly ripe, with splendidly integrated tannins. San Rocco gives an impression of great power, austerity, with an incredible aging potential.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Very pure fruit with crushed strawberries, spices and white truffles on the nose. The palate is full and tight with brightness and focus. Firm, creamy tannins. The super quality of fruit really comes through here.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Barolo San Rocco has aromas of leather, black cherry, cedar, and licorice. The palate is ripe up front and leads with black raspberry, baking spice, and balsamic. Consistent with gripping structure, these wines need time to unfurl.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Azelia 2017 Barolo San Rocco shows some tightness and firmness initially, but it ultimately reveals an open and accessible quality of fruit with dried raspberry, cherry and wild plum. Those fruit flavors take a sudden turn to embrace some of the more mineral aromas associated with Serralunga d'Alba, such as iron ore and rusty nail. This hot and dry vintage release of 7,500 bottles doesn't show the same depth or complexity that we saw in the classic 2016 growing season. Instead, this wine is fruit forward and a little more contoured and streamlined overall.
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Wine & Spirits
This is a dense and savory wine, its black-cherry fl avors packed with notes of toasted nuts and smoked game gripped by powerful, ferrous tannins. Rather backward at this stage, it will benefi t from extended cellaring.
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Wine Spectator
Macerated cherry and berry flavors are the main themes in this red, graced by menthol, tobacco and tar. Lively acidity and firm, raspy tannins lend support. This is lean and sinewy, yet long.
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.
