Crissante Alessandria Barolo Capalot 2016
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James
Suckling -
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James Suckling
A ripe and layered red with lots of cherries, cedar, walnuts and hazelnuts as well as meat. Full body, round tannins and a juicy finish with some smokiness coming through. Better after 2023, but already hard to hold back on.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of red-skinned berry, leather and cooking spice emerge from the glass. The concentrated palate offers Marasca cherry, clove and black pepper alongside youthfully assertive tannins. Drink 2025–2031.
Other Vintages
2015-
James
Suckling
The company was born in 1958 when Crissante Alessandria, winemaker son of winemakers, together with his wife Teresa, decided to vinify the grapes of the family-owned vineyards, grapes that until then were sold to the most important historical wineries in the Langa. Between the underground walls of the Cascina Roggeri in Santa Maria di La Morra, with the assembly of Nebbioli from the Roggeri and Capalot crus, Crissante produces its first Barolo with a traditional system aged in 25 quintal Slavonian oak barrels. Over the years the company grows, new vineyards are purchased in excellent locations in the municipality of La Morra and separate vinification of the Capalot, Roggeri and Galina crus begins in the 1980s, gradually renewing the wood of the cellar in 2007. a fair balance between barriques,
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.