Winemaker Notes
Garnet-red in color with ruby reflections. An intense odor with clean scents of roses, vanilla, roasted hazelnuts, licorice and spices. Full, elegant, full-bodied and austere flavor with recurring hints of the olfactory sensations. Pleasant touch of tar and oaky notes in perfect equilibrium.
It goes well with traditional egg pastas from the Langhe (tajarin), meat-stuffed ravioli, red meats, boiled meats, braised meats and game. It is ideal for sipping alongside sheep and goat toma cheeses and hard ripened cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This has nice depth to the cherry, plum and floral flavors, with rich texture and a dense structure. Balanced, showing ample flesh surrounding the tannins, with everything capped off by lively acidity. Fine length. Best from 2024 through 2038.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
As its name suggests, this wine is made exclusively from fruit from the comune, or village, of Barolo. The Marchesi di Barolo 2016 Barolo del Comune di Barolo shows more focus and linearity compared to the Barolo Tradizione from the same vintage. That direct approach is really what we are looking for in the classic wines of 2016. Wild berry, licorice and tar emerge from the bouquet.
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Wine Enthusiast
Black-skinned berry, menthol and exotic spice aromas meld with whiffs of toasted hazelnut. On the firm palate, fine-grained tannins accompany dried black cherry, tobacco and licorice before a drying finish. Drink 2023–2028.
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.