Winemaker Notes
Lively ruby red in color, this wine is intense and fruity on the nose, offering aromas of cherry, raspberry and spice. On the palate, it is full and supple, with excellent tannic balance.
Pair with roasts, game and seasoned cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A dense and beautiful red with plum, chocolate and mineral character. Hints of sandalwood too. Full body, ultra-fine tannins and a delicious finish. Already gorgeous.
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Wine Spectator
Offering sweet, ripe cherry, strawberry, licorice and tar flavors, this red is round and supple. Vibrant acidity and a firm structure ensure a long life ahead as the finish lingers with earth, mineral and tar accents. Best from 2019 through 2035.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Dark, muscular and brooding, the 2012 Barolo Riserva Gramolere wears its Riserva status well. It reveals a very dense fiber that is closely interwoven with blackberry, dried cherry, plum, spice and tobacco. The wine presents rich textural fiber that is backed by oak-driven sweetness and ripe fruit from a hot vintage. This wine is aged in tonneaux for 48 months.
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Wine Enthusiast
Cured meat, leather, underbrush, blue flower and toast aromas lead the nose while the tight palate offers tart red cherry, baking spice and dried herb. Firm, close-grained tannins provide structure while a hint of star anise closes it down.
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.