Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
A wine that will make you pause and take note as aromas of dried cherries and warmed strawberries waft out of the glass, note of incense, wild thyme, bay leaf and dried autumn leaves encapsulate the lucky few who find this wine. Refined and elegant the palate is like a hug you did know you needed. It is full of plush warm notes of ripe wild berries, sweet and savory spices, leather all bound together as group by polished tannins that are poised and stately. Drink Now through 2040.
Cellar Selection -
James Suckling
Firm and structured with a medium to full body and taut tannins. Notes of red plums, cherries, spices and hints of tar, with vivid acidity and salty undertones at the end. Chewy finish. Try after 2027.
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Vinous
The 2020 Barolo Cannubi is a sensual, elegant wine. Sweet dried red cherry, tobacco, incense, leather and dried herbs grace this gentle, caressing Barolo. All the elements are nicely balanced. Best of all, the 2020 will drink well right out of the gate.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Giacomo Fenocchio 2019 Barolo Cannubi opens to a dark garnet color and suffers from a slightly muted bouquet. I notice this trait across the wines in this portfolio. There are dusty earthy aromas that cede to crushed flowers and dried currant. The tannins are fine and powdery. The wine gives more with time, but it never fully opened. This is a 3,000-bottle release.
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Wine Spectator
Steeped cherry, plum, tar and pine forest flavors mark this sinewy red. Remains fresh, with dry tannins framing the fruit and savory notes on the finish. Best from 2027 through 2042.
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.