Winemaker Notes
#36 Vinous Top 100 of 2025
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2016 Barolo Riserva Rüncot is every bit as magical as it has always been. Deep, layered and explosive, the 2016 dazzles from start to finish. It possesses remarkable textural depth and mind-blowing balance. Even so, it has shut down considerably since I first tasted it. Rüncot is a wine that typically needs time to be at its very finest. That is especially true for the 2016.
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James Suckling
Aromas of dried cherries and cranberries with notes of walnuts, ground nutmeg and dried mushrooms. Complex and structured with a medium to full body and a broad, dense tannin structure. Firm and chewy. Long finish.
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Wine Spectator
Shows an initial impression of vanilla and spices, especially in the aromas, yet underneath is a solid line of cherry, raspberry, wild scrub and iron flavors. An elegant and intense red, with refined tannins and a lingering, nervy finish. Best from 2026 through 2045. 650 cases made.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Elio Grasso 2016 Barolo Riserva Rüncot is intense and powerful. However, there are a number of tertiary notes, some veering all the way to porcino mushroom and wood pile, but you also get threads of ripe black cherry, plum and even some dried prune. You can't escape a note of painters' studio with linseed oil. Bitter cacao or rhubarb also appear. This is an excellent example of an aged Barolo Riserva, but ultimately, you'll get more pleasure drinking this in the medium term without having to age it.
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.