M. Marengo Barolo Bricco delle Viole 2015
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Ruby red with orange reflections. Very fine, ethereal, and rich on the nose, with notes of cherry and sweet spices. Elegant, full bodied, quite soft, fresh, balanced, sweet and well integrated tannins, persistent.
Great with grilled red meat or seasoned cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
In cooler vintages, the Bricco delle Viole site produces wines with strong floral aromatics that range from blue wildflowers to rose hip. However, the warmer-vintage 2015 Barolo Bricco delle Viole is a very different wine that breaks away from its predecessors. The quality of the aromas is darker, more saturated, and it veers toward black and purple fruit more than those characteristic floral tones. This is a more impactful Barolo with broad shoulders, depth and firmly integrated tannins. It walks with a heavier gait compared to past vintages, but it covers the palate beautifully. About 6,000 bottles were produced.
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James Suckling
Aromas of smoke, meat and dark berries follow through to a full body with rich, velvety tannins and a flavorful finish. Try in 2023.
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Decanter
Marco Marengo is based in La Morra, but he also produces this fine wine from the village of Barolo. Marengo is an unrepentant modernist, but the barrique-ageing rarely leaves an oaky imprint on his wines.The red fruits on the nose are reticent, while the palate is beautifully balanced, marrying concentration of fruit, fine tannins and lifted elegance. Long and stylish.
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Wine Spectator
This red is dense and full of bass notes of black plum, black cherry, tar and leather. Firm tannins provide backbone and stretch this out on the finish. Best from 2023 through 2043.
Other Vintages
2018-
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James
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Robert
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Suckling
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.