Winemaker Notes
Optimal structure but with already-soft tannins, and with an open, intense perfume that gives this Barolo characteristics of both power and great elegance. Complex and fragrant, can be enjoyed young but has great aging potential.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Alfio Cavallotto is one of the most traditional producers in Langhe. His winemaking is not only classic but old-fashioned: indigenous yeast, oak fermentation, almost no temperature control, and long maceration with submerged cap. His wines are dark and concentrated and this 2019 is no different. Earthy and smoky, it has dark cherry and blood orange aromas alongside plenty of dried fruits. There's firm acidity to the fore, as well as firm tannins, with great mid-palate extraction. There's ome stickiness on the gums now so it comes across as very austere at the moment, but it's very good on the finish. This deserves more time in bottle and consumers who appreciate the style.
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Wine Spectator
This estate is certainly the most prolific interpreter of the hilltop Bricco Boschis MGA in Castiglione Falletto. The Cavallotto 2019 Barolo Bricco Boschis (a certified organic wine) would benefit from more time in the bottle. I encountered many Barolos in 2019 that reveal a slightly reductive approach that bodes well for long cellaring. This wine is characterized by velvety black fruit that is framed by dusty nuances of crushed limestone. It builds focus and precision with more time in the glass.
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.