Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Very distinctive nose with violets and very pure blackcurrants and blueberries, as well as leafy nuances, all of which deliver a fresh impression. The palate has impressive depth and density and the cool, blue fruit at the center sits fresh and vibrant. Smoothly resolved tannins shape a distinguished, balanced and long palate.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This Barolo has a nice dose of soft spice and an accessible and upfront style. The 2015 Barolo Campè Vürsù is a dark and velvety wine with lots of dark intensity. You could wait for more tertiary aromas to evolve or easily pop this bottle open in a year or two with some braised short ribs. The wine sees 24 months of oak.
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Wine Spectator
Raspberry and violet aromas are augmented by wild herb notes of juniper and thyme, plus a hint of tobacco, in this tightly knit red. Elegant and firmly structured, with a long aftertaste of macerated fruit and savory. Decant now or age for a few years. 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.