Winemaker Notes
Intense garnet red. Rich fruit, licorice, rose and violet with light toasty notes. Full and dry on the palate with soft, velvety tannins. Because of its structure and body, it pairs well with meat, game and cheese
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is a bold, assertive and flavorful Barolo with aromas of ripe, red and darker cherries, swathed in fresh, fragrant spices and a layer of violet-like perfume. Sweet, supple and juicy tannins abound. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Ca' Rome' 2015 Barolo Cerretta is a pretty wine with good energy and intensity. The bouquet is redolent of bright fruit with lots of cherry and cassis that reinforce the inner freshness in this Barolo from Serralunga d'Alba. That zesty quality comes as a happy surprise given the sunny and warm vintage. Indeed, you'd almost guess that this wine came from a cooler growing season instead, thanks to that menthol freshness that marks the close. Some 8,000 bottles were made. Rating : 93+
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Wine Spectator
A suave style, with a velvety texture and refined tannins setting the stage for macerated plum, cherry, menthol and sweet spice flavors. Balanced and approachable, firming up on the tobacco-tinged finish. Best from 2023 through 2042.
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.