Winemaker Notes
Garnet red with orange reflections in the aging. Notes of violet, cherry and balsamic nuances of vanilla and licorice. Intense, elegant and persistent, with notes of red fruit and, with aging, tobacco and leather.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Plum, berry, dried-flower and light rose-stem aromas follow through to a full body with firm, rounded tannins and a chewy finish. Fruit comes out at the end. Drink after 2024.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Damilano 2017 Barolo Cerequio opens to thin concentration and a light garnet appearance. There are many elements on the bouquet, starting with a lean cherry or cassis that segues to earth, grilled herb and button mushroom. You may also recognize crushed flowers and pressed rose. This wine offers a relatively soft and contained bouquet, but then it shows a lot more structure and textural power on the palate.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of camphor, blue flowers and tilled earth shape the nose. Savory and smooth, the palate features raspberry compote, baking spice and licorice set against polished, fine-grained tannins. It's already almost accessible but will also offer years of drinking pleasure. Enjoy 2023–2029.
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Wine Spectator
Haunting aromas of rose, cherry, eucalyptus, hay and iron are the highlights of this tightly wound, yet expressive Barolo. Holding back now, yet the final impression on the finish is balanced, with a lingering aftertaste.
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.