Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2010 Barolo Ciabot Mentin opens to a deep, dark color and tarry aromas of dark fruit and liquid smoke. The use of oak is bold but contained, adding extra layering to the supple finish. The power and elegance of the vintage comes though at this early stage although the wine clearly needs more time to evolve. Drink: 2017-2030.
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Wine Spectator
Features a combination of cherry, spice, eucalyptus and woodsy notes, with buoyant fruit backed by beefy tannins. This changes constantly in the glass, boding well for the future. A dense, balanced red. Best from 2018 through 2032.
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James Suckling
This is a very pretty 2010 Barolo with very fine tannins, fresh fruit and hints of minerals. Medium to full body, delicately fruity finish. Give it until 2016 to soften the tannins a little.
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Wine Enthusiast
Mint, anisette and red berry aromas lead the nose. These follow through to the palate along with licorice, espresso, coffee, toasted oak and black pepper. It's tightly framed with drying wood tannins, but the bright fruit stands up to the strong oak influence. Drink after 2020.
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.