Winemaker Notes
Luigi Oddero Barolo Rocche Rivera is a cru within a cru: a south-facing vineyard situated at 300 meters altitude within the Castiglione Falletto cru of Scarrone, immediately adjacent to the fabled Rocche di Castiglione. Though Oddero owns a notable 4 hectares in Scarrone, Rocche Rivera comprises only the upper portion with the most favorable exposition. This high-altitude, well-drained vineyard of sand and limestone produces wines of sizzling mineral-driven tension and notable refinement, and this wine possesses those qualities in spades, with delicious flavors of ripe, dark mentholated cherries and herbal spice, rife with energy, with a reticence in its youth—a tense-muscled sprinter still coiled over the starting block.
Blend: 100% Nebbiolo
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Forest floor, eucalyptus, woodland berry and new leather are just some of the aromas you'll find on this stunning, full-bodied red. Delicious and elegantly structured, the focused, vibrant palate delivers mature red berry, licorice and dried mint alongside firm, fine-grained tannins. It's well balanced, with bright acidity and shows great aging potential. Drink 2026–2038.
Cellar Selection -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Figli Luigi Oddero 2018 Barolo Rocche Rivera shows pinpoint focus and linearity with red berry aromas, lead pencil, blue flower and camphor ash. This precise, directional approach gives the wine increased length and a very clean delivery to the palate. The wine should drink beautifully well beyond the 20-year mark.
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.