Winemaker Notes
The color is ruby red with a tendency towards garnet. The aroma is intense and
persistent with a clear hint of red fruitsin alcohol, cinnamon, absinthe and tobacco.
The taste is full and elegant, with soft and enveloping tannins; the spicy notes and
the woody blend perfectly giving a finish of great finesse.
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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James Suckling
A very pure and fine-tuned red, showing cherry and strawberry character with some walnut and cedar undertones. Medium body, fine tannins and a fresh finish. Give it two or three years to open. Try after 2023.
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Wine Enthusiast
Iris, menthol, dark spice and ripe black-skinned fruit aromas mingle together in the glass. Savory and full-bodied, the palate opens with fleshy Morello cherry, French oak, roasted coffee bean and saline notes before tight, close-grained tannins leave a firm, grippy close.
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.