Winemaker Notes
The Prapò and Cerretta vineyards are right next to each other, but the difference between the two wines is striking. Cerretta is more structured, shows the Serralunga dark chocolate character even more strongly, with a strong sandalwood/tobacco note. Ages superbly.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of menthol, dark spice and rose form the enticing nose. Showing its Serralunga pedigree, the palate is youthfully austere but incredibly refined, delivering ripe raspberry, Morello cherry and licorice along with hints of coffee bean and hazelnut. A backbone of fine-grained tannins provides firm support. Drink now–2047.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Barolo Cerretta is coming into its own, tasted two years later, and remains fresh and pure. Its aromatics are a bit more inward compared to the 2018 at this point, with ripe cherry candy, anise, and cedar. The palate offers sanguine and iron-rich tones, with ripe, present tannins and generous fruit to support it.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Ettore Germano 2017 Barolo Cerretta shows a shiny ruby color and lots of ambient light. The bouquet is nuanced and detailed, with cassis, dried cranberry, camphor ash and crushed flowers. This wine excels in terms of texture, thanks to that twofold combination of structure and elegant silkiness. This is a sharply chiseled and focused Cerretta release of some 75,000 bottles.
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Wine Spectator
Bright and charming, this strawberry- and cherry-flavored red is light on its feet and mouthwatering, with accents of tar and tobacco adding interest. No pushover, this packs some lively tannins, ending with fine balance and length overall.
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.