Winemaker Notes
Ruby red with orange reflections. very fine, ethereal, rich, liqueur cherry, sweet spices. Elegant, full bodied, quite soft, fresh, balanced, sweet and well integrated tannins, persistent.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This wine is transparent and complex, with an intoxicating floral profile enhanced by mint, red currants and sweet spices. The wine is full-bodied, fruity and savory, with a powerful structure of firm, grainy tannins and ripe, refreshing, lifted acidity. Try after 2027.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Always one of my favorites in this portfolio, the M. Marengo 2021 Barolo Bricco delle Viole manages a beautiful balance between intensity and elegance. The wine is not timid, nor does it reveal all its secrets at once. It offers a slow-motion performance of redcurrant, crushed flower and sweet violet. As always, this Barolo produces a floral signature that makes it unique. That delicate characteristic is especially defined and vibrant in this vintage.
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Wine Spectator
Supple and featuring cherry, strawberry, floral, mineral and wild herb aromas and flavors, this red feels more approachable than many of its 2021 peers. Its richness buffers the tannins, and the long aftertaste echoes the fruit while leaving a chalky sensation. Best from 2027 through 2043.
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.