Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is red-fruited and floral with notes of violets, spices and citrus perfume. Medium-bodied with broad, but rather ripe, well-integrated tannins. Balanced, even and fresh with some spicy herbal undertones to close. Very attractive.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Gianfranco Bovio 2019 Barolo opens to a light garnet appearance with hints of plum and terracotta. It shows delicately measured fragrances of rose, earth, licorice and aniseed. It's classic Nebbiolo with the balance, elegant concentration and power that we see across the 2019 vintage. The blend represents a selection of fruit from La Morra and Castiglione Falletto.
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Vinous
The 2019 Barolo offers a compelling mix of early appeal with a classic sense of structure. Sweet dried cherry, tobacco, cedar, incense and crushed autumn leaves are all nicely lifted. I would prefer to drink this sooner rather than later, as the flavors are just a bit forward. Even so, this is a highly enjoyable wine, especially for its peer group.
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.