Winemaker Notes
Brilliant scarlet, hints of ruby and a touch of garnet. Just translucent. Spicy ripe plums and delicate cherries, contributes to the complexity of the aromas. Firm and structured on the palate. Loaded with ripe plums and cherries with a distinctive character. Starts out medium bodied, but then expands magically in the mouth into an explosion of tannins, tobacco and wild dark fruit flavors.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Fabio Alessandria’s fresh, floral Barolo offers the best quality-price ratio of all the 2015 Barolos we tasted this year. Culled from the family’s vineyards in Verduno and Roddi, it underwent a shorter maceration than his single-cru Barolos, giving a bright and lithe wine. It tastes of fresh cherries tinged with notes of tea leaves and orange peel—classic, energetic and delicious.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This estate captures the very essence of Barolo from Verduno, that, to my palate, also shows a hint of wildness or maybe some exotic character. Winemaking at Comm. G.B. Burlotto is traditional, and for this reason, those territory-specific aromas are even more pronounced and easy to recognize. If you had to settle with one Barolo "base" (I know the producers hate this descriptor used for non-vineyard specific Barolo) for the rest of your life, the 2015 Barolo would definitely do the trick. The wine delivers intensity and grace, with pretty background detailing of spice, crushed stone and ash.
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Wine Enthusiast
This fragrant red offers enticing scents of violet, iris and wild berry. A classic bottling, the elegant, vibrant palate doles out crushed strawberry, red cherry, star anise and a hint of white pepper set against polished tannins. Drink through 2030.
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James Suckling
Very aromatic with sliced strawberries and cherries and hints of tangerines on the nose. Full body. Rich and juicy and a flavorful finish. Drink in 2022.
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Wine Spectator
A core of pure cherry flavors marks this vibrant Barolo. Floral, tar, tobacco and tea notes add complexity. Finishes on the firm side. Fine length. Best from 2022 through 2040.
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.