Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Extremely fresh and pure, this red exhibits rose, strawberry and cherry flavors, with accents of licorice and leather. Balanced and elegant, revealing a long, resonant aftertaste of sticks and stones. Beautiful harmony. Best from 2018 through 2032.
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James Suckling
A Barolo with lots of walnut, dried fruit and light orange peel character. Full body, velvety tannins and a long and flavorful finish. Need two or three years of bottle age to come together.
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Wine Enthusiast
Forest floor, truffle, wild berry and a whiff of grilled herb unfold on this full-bodied red. The savory, structured palate displays ripe black cherry, crushed raspberry, licorice, clove and a hint of chewing tobacco alongside a firm, tannic backbone. Drink 2019–2031.
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Wine & Spirits
Valter Fissore harvests fruit for Cascina Nuova from vines less than 11 years old to yield a precocious Barolo that's a pleasure to drink young. The 2011 is no exception, the black cherry and plum flavors dusted with dried thyme and anise, a dark, charry undertone adding depth and savory richness. Open it for braised duck.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2011 Barolo Cascina Nuova is a balanced and pretty expression that does a great job of presenting aromas of cherry, tar, licorice and grilled herb with equal billing. The wine is made with the estate's younger Nebbiolo vines for a more immediate and approachable style. There is a touch of green herb or olive on the finish that distinguishes it from its peers.
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.