Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Only made in the best vintages, the 2010 Barolo Riserva Vigna Elena is a stunning and magnificent achievement. This is a complete wine that reaches to the far sides of the aromatic spectrum. The bouquet offers crushed mineral, black fruit, balsam herb, cherry cola, anise and a seductive dose of earthy black truffle. It has it all. The mouthfeel is rich and determined, but there is a point of tightness within the tannic structure that will require more years of bottle aging.
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James Suckling
Love the fruit and berry character. So floral. Full-bodied, round and gorgeous. Wonderful texture.
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Wine & Spirits
Vigna Elena is cool and restrained in the 2010 vintage, showing lovely scents of rose petals, and freshness in its red cherry and plum flavors. Its tannins are smooth, cinching the fruit like a cool silk scarf that unwinds over time, letting in notes of spice and fine, leafy herbs. Drink it now for its rose petal delicacy and fresh red berry flavors, but stow away some bottles to let the fruit deepen into greater expression.
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Wine Spectator
Perfumed with floral and berry notes, this red picks up cherry, leather and tar flavors, featuring well-defined, vibrant acidity. Silky and long in texture, this is balanced and expressive. Best from 2018 through 2033. 340 cases made.
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.