Winemaker Notes
The wine displays aromas of dark berries, tobacco, plums, and roses, with a complex and layered yet supple and silky palate, offering good structure and balance, and pairs well with grilled steak and dishes featuring wild mushrooms.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
On pouring, the 2020 Barolo Monvigliero appears paler in the glass compared to the others tasted in this vertical of Monvigliero, but it opens to become spicy, bright, and complete, with notes of strawberries, spice, fresh flowers, cinnamon, and dusty earth. A great wine with the most distinct sense of place, it offers a tightrope of fine tannins, a snappy spine of acidity, and a long finish, with a fresh, balanced, and age-worthy feel as well as savory, mouthwatering tension and mineral undercurrents. Drink it over the next 20 years.
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Wine Enthusiast
Crushed wild strawberries, raspberries, and elegant floral notes captivate the senses. Tart red cherries and cranberries dance on the palate, accompanied by a delicate herbaceous touch. This pretty Barolo showcases the beauty of Nebbiolo with its vibrant acidity and refined tannins. A transformative wine with a balance so perfect, it would score 10s in the Olympics. Drink now - 2045.
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Wine Spectator
A touch of spices mellows the profile of this red, lending accents to the core of cherry, strawberry, rose and mineral aromas and flavors. Beautifully balanced, with finesse and an expansive finish. Stylish and elegant. Best from 2028 through 2045.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Only a handful of producers have access to this very exciting MGA in Verduno. The Fratelli Alessandria 2020 Barolo Monvigliero shows added complexity with a note of cola or balsam herb that lifts above wild berry and cassis. There are floral notes in this warm vintage, but they lean into pressed violet and dry rose instead of fresh flowers. This expression has extra concentration and even a hint of stemmy bitter fruit that should iron out with time.
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James Suckling
This has a fragrant, inviting nose with chocolate cherry, dried orange peel, hints of sandalwood and crushed stones. Medium-bodied and so tense and vibrant on the palate with vivid acidity. Tight and dusty, but already delicious. Better after 2027.
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.