Winemaker Notes
Ruby red in color with garnet reflections. An intense scent of violet, red and small red fruits, with a slightly balsamic note. In the mouth the texture is complex and silky and the harmonious structure wraps the palate with soft and succulent tannins.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A restrained wine with aromas of licorice, leaves, potpourri, red currants and strawberries that unfold in the glass. Full-bodied and tense, it shows firm tannins, a velvety texture and crisp acidity. It’s chewy and full of energy. Try after 2026.
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Wine Enthusiast
Like walking into a spice merchant's shop carrying a basket of just-picked cherries. This young beauty has all the building blocks of greatness, the sweet spice cabinet, the candied fruit, that telltale Barolo soul of earth and power lurking beneath. It's a wine that whispers of greatness to come while being delicious right now. Don't be fooled by its youth - this one's playing the long game. Drink from 2027.
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Wine Spectator
This red is fresh and focused, featuring cherry, raspberry, floral and resin flavors. There’s a viscous feel to the texture, helping to offset the fierce tannins. Overall, this feels balanced and lingers nicely. Iron-tinged finish. Best from 2029 through 2045.
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.