Winemaker Notes
An homage to a childhood nickname, this wine represents the "wild airplane" of Clerico's personality. Playful yet full of purpose, vineyard specific Barolo from a modernist. Notes of ripe red fruit with a long, sophisticated, rich and elegant finish. The palate is full bodied with sweet tannins.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Dried boysenberries, red plums, rose petals, cedar, red licorice and caramelized oranges all come into view. The full-bodied palate weaves its way masterfully through layered, vibrant red fruit, casting a far-reaching web of intricate tannin detail and punchy acidity. Very long on the finish. Drink from 2023.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Domenico Clerico 2015 Barolo Aeroplan Servaj draws its fruit from Serralunga d'Alba, specifically from the Baudana cru with vines planted in 1994. The wine shows the extra fiber and power that typically comes so naturally to this subzone. The bouquet is characterized by a point of bright fruit, like red cherry or cassis, backed by layers of smoke, ash, balsam herb, blood orange and earthy whiffs of white truffle. There is ample red fruit energy, but you get savory and smoky tones as well with clove, nutmeg and tar. It shows significant fruit weight and elegance. The richer soils of this site create a wine that can withstand a little more oak. Aeroplan Servaj is aged in barrique and then botte for 12 months each.
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.