Winemaker Notes
An austere Barolo with a recognizable mineral expression; aromas of cherries and raspberries emerge from the glass with elegance, those of menthol and leather have profundity. Cerretta is distinguished by elegant tannins and a great freshness that balances at best with ripe fruits.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
A floral perfume of violets takes the lead in the 2020 Barolo Cerretta, which pours a ripe ruby color and reveals aromas of wild candied black raspberries, candied orange, sweet herbs, and licorice. With sweet tannins and a harmonious feel, its more mineral underpinnings come through in the end, with supple, lush tannins and a clean finish. It’s long on the palate but harmonious, with no harsh edges. Drink 2025-2045.
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Wine Spectator
A beam of pure cherry leads off, along with strawberry, licorice, tar and menthol flavors. Supple yet firm, with terrific balance and a long, tightly wound finish, revealing fruit, mineral and wild scrub notes. This is all about the texture.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Luigi Baudana 2020 Barolo Cerretta has bold lines and shows dominant dark fruit. You get all of that Serralunga d'Alba intensity with ferrous earth, dried apricot, blackcurrant, iron ore and crushed stone. The wine ends on a dry note that is reinforced by the tight nature of the fine chalky tannins, but there is enough fruit to soften out the effect. There is a hint of nutmeg or sweet spice on the palate.
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Vinous
The 2020 Barolo Cerretta is a very complete wine in this vintage. Deep and layered, but in the medium-bodied style of the year, the 2020 impresses with its balance and overall harmony. Succulent red cherry fruit, spice, rose petal, mint and dried herbs fill out the layers nicely. The substantial finish is quite attractive.
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Wine Enthusiast
This vintage's Cerretta is a wine that commands attention. Drying cherries, red plum, and dried leaf aromas evoke the warmth of summer's peak. Savory herbs add depth, hinting at the wine's complexity. On the palate, this Barolo leans more toward savory than fruit, with dark forest berries ready to fall from the bush, working in harmony with wild herbs, pine, and pressed flowers. Firm tannins give the wine an unmistakable gravitas, letting you know it's the boss. Drink 2025 - 2045.
Cellar Selection -
James Suckling
A fresh and elegant Barolo showing rose petals, wild strawberries, sour cherries and dried citrus peel on the nose. It’s medium-bodied, with very fine tannins and a crushed stone minerality.
Luigi Baudana is one of the last garagiste estates in Langhe. With just 4 quality hectares, located in some of the most prestigious Barolo crus in Serralunga d'Alba. The wines of the Luigi Baudana collection are an expression of powerful, genuine and true-to-terroir wines, expressing the best of the Nebbiolo grape.
The origin of the cellar is lost in time: Baudana is the name of the family, but it is also the name of the vineyard and of the hamlet of Serralunga d'Alba, where the winery is located.
For over thirty years, Luigi and Fiorina Baudana have grown the vineyards that have belonged to their family for generations. They cared for their vineyards with the same tenderness of their own love and with the same warmth emanating from their cellar, born under the vaults of their home.
From the very beginning, the Vaira family have been impressed by Luigi and Fiorina's ambition, as well as pride in their work. Their mission every day is for Luigi and Fiorina to be proud of the vineyards and of the wines, whilst perpetuating their gestures and seeking for the authenticity of every single vineyard.
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.