Winemaker Notes
Ruby red tending to garnet in color. Intense, complex, delicate, very elegant and very powerful at the same time. Small red berries, balsamic notes of sage and mint that become gradually more evident when the wine opens up in the glass. Floral and flint notes follow. In the mouth the tannins are silky and well integrated together with a lovely balance.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Barolo Brunate is a fleshy and hearty Nebbiolo with ample structure and staying power. The bouquet offers dark fruit, candied plum, blue flower, spice and rusty mineral. There is a hint of rosemary sprig or forest bramble as well. Brunate ends with almost metallic-like notes that are characteristic of this vineyard cru, and the wine has plenty of structure to carry it through more years of bottle age.
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James Suckling
This is earthy and spiced yet fresh and red-fruited at the same time, with cherries and peach skins as well as dried flowers and decomposed wood undertones. Impressive complexity and structure with medium to full body and densely packed, fine tannins. Balanced and long. Try after 2027.
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Wine Spectator
An austere, tightly packed red, with plum, black cherry and violet flavors underlined by beefy tannins. The compact finish makes it difficult to see where this is going. Best from 2028 through 2048.
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.