Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The purity of fruit to this is truly outstanding, with dried strawberries, spices and flowers, including roses. Full body with ultra-fine tannins and a beautiful fruit-tannin balance. Super-elegant. This is a joy to taste now but will reward those who are patient. Wait until 2016 and see.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2009 Barolo Le Rocche del Falletto comes from a south-facing parcel with steep slopes for well-draining soils. The vines are approximately 35 years old. There-s a touch of extra ripeness here, even a hint of strawberry, backed by rich berry fruit, cassis and blackberry. The wine shows its most elegant side in the mouth, where the firming, polished tannins give the wine backbone and grace. It-s deliciously silky and extra fine with microscopic precision. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2036.
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Wine Spectator
Round and supple, with firm tannins underneath, this red evokes cherry, wild strawberry, tobacco, leather and underbrush flavors. Harmonious in a taut, dense way, offering a long, savory finish. Becomes racier with air, showing fine energy and drive. Best from 2017 through 2032.
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Wine Enthusiast
From one of Barolo's iconic houses, this wine is more delicately structured and forward than usual but still bears Giacosa's hallmark finesse and complexity. It has mesmerizing perfumes of rose, violet, cherry, strawberry and hints of cedar. The palate shows lively cherry, mineral and spice notes, and has a smooth, silky texture. Drink now or hold 10 years for more complexity.
One of the legendary winemakers of the world, Bruno Giacosa crafted the most prestigious single-vineyard Barolo and Barbaresco wines during a career that spanned nearly eight decades. He joined the family business at the age of 15, representing the third generation of his Langhe winemaking family. Giacosa’s unfailing pursuit of perfection, his unrivalled palate and his intimate knowledge of vineyards in the Langhe quickly drew recognition and helped establish Piedmont as a leading wine region. In 1982, Giacosa began to acquire prime parcels in Serralunga d’Alba, La Morra and Barbaresco to produce wines that are rightly regarded as the finest expressions of Nebbiolo.
His legacy rests with daughter Bruna, who continues to uphold her father’s winemaking philosophy to respect traditional techniques while using the best of modern technology. The goal is for each distinguished site to produce articulate, unique wines.
The “Azienda Agricola Falletto – di Bruno Giacosa” label represents wines made from estate vineyards. The “Casa Vinicola Bruno Giacosa” label appears on wines made from purchased grapes that are made with the same care in the Nieve winery.
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.