Winemaker Notes
A vivid ruby red color with sharp fragrances of red raspberries, plums and cherries. Enriched by complex sensations of spices and licorice, at the taste this Barolo is warm and soft, with a well-rounded body and refined tannins. The structure is the one of Serralunga, powerful and elegant in all its forms.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Members of the Baudana family have farmed vines in the northern end of Serralunga for so long that both the hamlet and the MGA share their name. Luigi Baudana and his wife, Fiorina, managed the family’s 6.4 vineyard acres for three decades, making two single-cru Barolos, one from Baudana and the other from Cerretta. When Luigi began to contemplate retirement in 2005, he met Aldo Vaira, owner of the G.D. Vajra estate in the neighboring Barolo commune. Aldo’s son, Giuseppe, began to help Luigi out in the vineyards and the cellar, and the relationship became official in 2009 when the Vaira family assumed ownership of the Serralunga estate. They agreed to keep Luigi’s name on the labels, and to consult with him about winemaking and vineyard management at the estate. One significant decision, even before the Vairas became owners, was to create a Barolo that blended fruit from the estate’s younger vines. First produced in the 2005 vintage and named Barolo Serralunga d’Alba, it became Barolo del Comune di Serralunga d’Alba in 2010 when the category was created by the new MGA rules. They later added fruit from Costabella, another Serralunga cru where they had acquired some vines. The 2019 bottling seamlessly combines the fruit from these three MGAs in a wine that is fresh and elegant, its crisp red fruit tones propelled by brisk acidity and brightened by notes of spearmint and orange peel. Great Barolo is never cheap, but this wine offers one of the best quality-price ratios we found this year.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This wine is a blend of fruit from Baudana, Cerretta and Costabella. The Luigi Baudana 2019 Barolo del Comune di Serralunga d'Alba shows the firmness and structure that this village is known for with pretty perfumes of rose, rusty nail, autumnal leaf, licorice and tar. Costabella is an early-ripening site, and fruit is sourced from the youngest vines in Cerretta and Baudana (leaving a selection from the older vines for the single-vineyard wines).
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Vinous
The 2019 Barolo del Comune di Serralunga d'Alba shows all the breadth of Serralunga, but in the somewhat austere style that runs through all the wines this year. Dark red fruit, sage, mint, leather and spice fill out the layers effortlessly. Rich and ample, yet super-classic, the Serralunga Barolo hits all the right notes. It may very well be the hidden gem in the entire Vajra range.
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James Suckling
Notes of spices, smoked wood and dried red flowers with dried raspberry and cocoa. Medium-bodied with finely polished tannins and juicy acidity coming through. Polished and chalky in the finish. A little dry at the end.
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Wine Spectator
Packs a kernel of cherry, raspberry, floral and iron flavors wrapped tightly in a dense matrix of tannins. This red is lean and focused, with vibrant acidity and dusty tannins. Shows fine length. Best from 2026 through 2043. 580 cases made.
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.