Winemaker Notes
Ruby red in color, tending to garnet red with ageing. On the nose, complex, combining freshness with elegance and finesse. Strong presence of tannins with great balance and persistence on the palate.
Drink with main courses of meat and mature cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Woodland berry, pressed rose and spice aromas mingle with earthy notes of forest floor and leather. Medium-bodied, smoothly structured yet racy, the savory palate features Marasca cherry, truffle, vanilla and star anise framed in taut, fine-grained tannins. Bright acidity keeps it balanced while it closes on a hint of salted game. Drink 2026–2046.
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James Suckling
Plenty of muscle in reserve here with compact aromas and flavors of dried cherries, violets and bright dried spices, such as green cardamom, as well as a lightly saline edge. Full-bodied and full of promise with a thick, spicy and lightly firm finish.
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Vinous
The 2016 Barolo Sorì Gepin is terrific. Broad, ample and potent, the 2016 is developing at a glacial pace. Black cherry, incense, leather, scorched earth and dried herbs are all dialed up. All the pedigree of the vintage is evident. Readers should expect a bruising, old-school Barolo full of spice, floral and earthy notes, with fruit pushed into the background.
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.