Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
The 2019 vintage is the first Brunate fully tended by Carlotta and Marta, following their father, Beppe Rinaldi's death. Typically blended with 15% of the Le Coste MGA for an acid drive, its southern exposure seems to be beneficial in this austere vintage. Fermented in oak vessels with natural yeast and aged for 36 months, the nose is a smorgasbord of details from liquorice and earth to pot pourri and mint leaf. There's a fresh pomegranate and red cherry core, and a finish of rhubarb and orange peel. The elegance of the tannins is great – velvety and dense – with refreshing acidity and polite alcohol. This Brunate has gorgeous balance between grace and power that will keep it going for decades. The best 2019 tasted. It will be officially presented in April.
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James Suckling
Impressively complex aromas of lavender, lilacs, stone, iodine and dried strawberries follow through to a medium to a full body with juicy tannins and savory spice and dark chocolate undertones. It’s a reserved and beautifully polished 2019. This needs another three or four years to come together but it’s already terrific quality.
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Wine Spectator
A fleshy, vibrant red, coursing with spicy cherry, strawberry and mint flavors. Shows top notes of hibiscus and sweet spices, while the finish is persistent and spicy, with an underlying mineral component. Intense, with fine viscosity, yet needs time to integrate.
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.