Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is fragrant and savory with dried cherries, dried raspberries, dried herbs, raw mushrooms and stones. Medium-bodied. It’s firm and chewy yet shows freshness and bright fruit at the same time. Lot of spice and dried herb character coming through with a crushed stone minerality at the end. Drink after 2028.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
With fruit from La Morra, the Bovio 2020 Barolo Gattera moves smoothly over the senses with a good sense of momentum, medium-plus texture and silky but firm tannins. The wine shows an attractive and accessible side right off the bat. In terms of aromas, it offers pressed violets, blackcurrant and a pretty mineral note that reminds me of iron or rust. Gattera is quite generous and fleshed out in this vintage.
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Wine Spectator
A bright, juicy style, this red exhibits cherry, strawberry, hibiscus, Mediterranean scrub and mineral aromas and flavors. Vibrant and complex, with a firm, expansive aftertaste that echoes the fruit and savory elements. Best from 2027 through 2045.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Barolo Gattera pours a ripe ruby/magenta color and displays a spicier profile, with notes of scorched earth, graphite, black raspberries, fresh lavender, and black peppercorn lift. It opens expressively on the palate and expands with ripe tannins, fantastic balanced energy, and notes of blood orange as well as mineral-toned earth. It’s going to do well to rest another 6-12 months, but it’s showing a lot of promise for a wide drinking window over the next 10-12 years. This is my favorite of these wines from Bovio.
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Wine Enthusiast
This classic Barolo exudes prettiness and structure, offering a captivating bouquet of ripe red cherries, plums, and a hint of dried roses on the nose. The palate is taut and well-structured, showcasing juicy blackberries and a touch of licorice that are supported by firm, yet refined tannins. Drink Now - 2035.
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.