Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The depth and richness to this is really wonderful with a silky texture and finesse that shows incredible ripeness yet freshness. Full and balanced. So much mushroom and berry character. A little severe with the acidity. Goes on for minutes. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2000 Barolo Cascina Francia is beautifully fleshy and supple in its radiant red fruit, freshly cut roses and licorice. The 2000 is a wonderfully open, seductive vintage for Cascina Francia, yet the wine has more than enough freshness to drink well for many, many years. At times, the 2000 tastes like it could have been made yesterday! Round, silky tannins frame the generous finish. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2030.
These are two exceptional Baroli from proprietor Roberto Conterno. The Cascina Francia shows the sexiness of the vintage, while Monfortino captures the power. The former is ready to deliver pleasure now, the latter may very well prove to be nearly immortal.
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Wine Spectator
Interesting aromas of fresh mushrooms and ripe fruit follow through to a full-bodied palate, with mahogany character and a plummy finish. Needs some time to come together. Beautiful wine. Best after 2007. 1,500 cases made.
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.