Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This Barolo shows very pure and vibrant cherries on the nose with light, perfumed nuances that create an ethereal mood. The palate is delivered as a set of succulent and detailed tannins, soaked in red cherries and leading to a long, juicy and impressively concentrated finish. Best to hold for three to five years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Barolo Prapò is a gorgeous expression of this vineyard site in Serralunga d'Alba, with an incredible sense of textural fiber that is so fine and tightly knit. The mouthfeel is extremely polished and silky. Like other Barolos from Ceretto, it almost seems a shame to distract attention from this craftsmanship with flavors from a heavy meal, and so it might be better to cellar it for a decade and then celebrate it with fine cheeses or pâté.
Rating: 95+ -
Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of eucalyptus, rose, wild herbs, dark spice and espresso lift out of the glass. The firmly structured palate is youthfully austere, showing sour cherry, cranberry, orange rind and ground clove, while tightly wound, close-grained tannins lead to a mouthdrying close.
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Wine Spectator
Sleek and tightly packed, offering plum, eucalyptus, green tea, tar and spice flavors. A beam of vibrant acidity is allied to dense tannins. Balanced in a compact profile. Best from 2023 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.