Winemaker Notes
Aromas of dark cherries, red plums, mint, balsam. Structured; tannins are fine-grained yet present. Mouth-filling and long.
Pair with grilled steak; osso bucco; or truffled dishes.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Moving over to Monforte d'Alba, the 2021 Barolo Gramolere was harvested almost a week after the vineyards in Verduno and takes on a bit more pigment in its medium red color. An expressive wine, it has a stylistic, graceful feel but offers more sapidity, lifting with notes of cherry liqueur, pressed herbs, sweet leather, and intertwining floral components. Over the long term, this is going to become a bit more contemplative in the range and offers a very complete feel at this early stage. The palate has velvety tannins, refreshing, balanced acidity, and an exceptional finish with darker mineral accents. I have to say, this might be my favorite from this producer in this vintage, and I would love to have several bottles stashed away to check in over the years. Bravo. Drink 2026-2056.
Rating: 96+ -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From a vineyard site in Monforte d'Alba, the Fratelli Alessandria 2021 Barolo Gramolere (with 7,000 bottles produced) shows a little more structure and power with tightly knit fruit, dark plum, ferrous earth and licorice. This vineyard comes to family ownership via the matriarch, Flavia Manzone, who was born in this village. Polished tannins push a smooth-sailing mouthfeel.
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Vinous
The 2021 Barolo Gramolere is a hugely promising wine. Black cherry, gravel, spice, new leather, licorice and crushed rocks add to an impression of gravitas. A dark, hulking wine, the 2021 is going to need time to be at its best. Today, it is a touch reduced, but a racking should take care of that.
Range: 94-96 -
Wine Enthusiast
Wafting out of the glass, this wine is like walking through a cherry orchard just as the fruit reaches perfect ripeness, that moment when everything aligns. This refined Barolo captures that same sweet spot, where crushed cherries mingle with cracked pepper and sun-warmed herbs in the air. The palate continues the story with precise balance, as refined tannins frame deep red fruits like perfectly placed stones in a garden path. A tremendous effort of a wine. Drink from 2027.
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Wine Spectator
Pure cherry and raspberry fruit is at the core of this expressive, graceful red, shaded by earth and underbrush notes. There are ample tannins for support, along with lively acidity, buffered by the up-front fruit and flesh. This is balanced, fading lazily to the complex aftertaste. Best from 2029 through 2045.
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Decanter
Gramolere sits on a higher, sandier, steeper slope in the township of Monforte. It is much more balsamic, earthy and patently structured. Aromas recall tobacco, forest flora, rosemary and sage. Still youthfully taut, the palate guards a core of bramble fruit enveloped in dry, powdery tannins. Underlying juiciness keeps everything flowing. Needs time. Fratelli Alessandria’s Gramolere makes for a fascinating comparison with the Monvigliero. Vinification is the same – spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel, with approximately 25% whole berries, 25-day maceration and ageing in large casks – it is just the site that changes.
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.