Winemaker Notes
Rose, iris, camphor and forest berry aromas mingle with whiffs of pine forest and dark spice. The firmly structured palate shows wonderful finesse, delivering sour cherry, cranberry and licorice framed in taut, fine-grained tannins and racy acidity.
Tasty with important first courses, meat main courses and aged cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Complex aromas of plums, dried strawberries, white truffle, and bark. It’s full-bodied and chewy with plenty of dried fruits and spices. Some dark mushrooms to the fruit at the end. Structured and poised.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Barolo Riserva comes primarily from Liste, with 20% from Fosati and 10% from Cannubi. It’s a ripe red brick color is rich with aromas of dark stones, cherry liqueur, and sappy herbs. Ripe and concentrated, with fresh acidity, it has a weightless feel, ripe, fine tannins, and a clean, mineral/earthy finish. It’s going to drink well over the next 20-30 years.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of dried cherry, dried rose and underbrush drive the nose on this classic Barolo. As the wine develops in the glass, savory spices and medicinal herb aromas waft out. The palate is lifted with cranberry notes giving way to allspice, leather and a gamy note. Dried earth notes and superfine tannins are on the finish.
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Wine Spectator
Aromas of hay and autumn meadow segue to cherry, mint, iron and tobacco flavors in this muscular red. Fluid and balanced, with dense yet civilized tannins providing the support. Excellent length. Best from 2027 through 2045.
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.