Winemaker Notes
Fossati comes from 1.8ha on the La Morra side of the cru, at 370-420m, facing E/SE. This wine has all the classic, autumnal Nebbiolo charm, with some mushroom-y tertiary notes developing after only a couple years. 30% of the vines here are planted in 1950. Fermentation in open-top tine, 80 days of maceration. Aging is in French oak cask.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Drawing its fruit from old vines in La Morra, the Enzo Boglietti 2016 Barolo Fossati offers a smooth, silky and accessible personality. This wine should probably be accessible with another five years or more of aging. This vineyard site has silty soils, and these conditions work to create complexity and soft dimension in the wine. Red cherry, dried raspberry, blood orange, licorice and smoke emerge from the bouquet.
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Wine Spectator
Perfumed, this red exhibits pure flavors of cherry, raspberry and rose, shaded by mineral and tobacco. It's succulent and silky, until the firm tannins sweep in on the savory finish. Graceful, yet packs a punch. Best from 2022 through 2040.
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James Suckling
Cranberries, dried raspberries, black tea and mineral to the ethereal nose with a hint of moss and old leather. Broad and full-bodied on the palate, but still quite transparent and taut with silky yet structured tannins.
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Decanter
Boglietti produces most but not all of its single-vineyard Barolos from La Morra, and Fossati is no exception. Compared to some other La Morra sites, Fossati delivers structured wines, and Boglietti opts for a very long maceration period before ageing it in large casks. The nose is exquisite, with intense and floral raspberry fruit. On first taste it seems a bit light, but it does have concentration and force, with ripe tannins balancing the fresh acidity. It's not a flashy style but it's balanced and long.
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.