Winemaker Notes
Barolo pairs perfectly with rich dishes such as roasted meats and pasta with truffles.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A medium-bodied Barolo with subtle notes of red berries, dried citrus peel, nutmeg and beeswax. Medium-bodied, tense and vivid with chalky tannins and bright acidity. Very polished with good energy.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Boroli 2019 Barolo shows a dark garnet appearance that denotes more concentration and fruit extraction. The bouquet reveals rich fruit flavors, grilled herb and plenty of spice. This is a modern take on the Nebbiolo grape in which fruit maturity and oak aging is more evident in the overall results. This is an accessible Barolo to drink in the near and medium term.
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Wine Enthusiast
This exciting Barolo, from various vineyards in Castiglione Falletto, bursts from the glass with pristine aromas of ripe cherries, fresh wildflowers and sweet spices. The generous palate showcases mixed red berries with hints of rosewood and nutmeg finishing with supple tannins that make it enjoyable in its youth.
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Wine Spectator
An elegant red, with cherry, raspberry and kirsch notes matched by menthol and mint flavors. Supple, with light, somewhat sinewy tannins emerging on the fresh finish.
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.