Winemaker Notes
With the Francesco Rinaldi Barolo Cannubi, the taste is dry, moderately tannic, full-bodied and robust.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A restrained wine full of elegance and subtlety. Red and black cherry, sweet violet, earth and licorice aromas unfold in the glass. Full-bodied, it shows density, concentration, crisp acidity and a minty aftertaste. This is not ready to drink. Try from 2027.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Francesco Rinaldi & Figli is privileged to farm 2.5 hectares of vines in the celebrated Cannubi MGA. With a long fermentation and extended maceration in Slavonian oak and three years of oak aging, the 2021 Barolo Cannubi comes out of the gate with integrated tannins and softened primary flavors of redcurrant, pressed violets and fine spice. The flavors are nicely meshed together, giving this wine a mid-weight and open-knit disposition.
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Vinous
The 2021 Barolo Cannubi marries sensuality and power. Crushed rose petal, macerated cherry, leather, incense and pipe tobacco are suggestive of Cannubi's beguiling qualities until potent tannins hit the mid-palate and finish. Readers should plan on being patient, as the 2021 is going to require a number of years to be at its most inviting. There's a lot of wine here.
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.