Winemaker Notes
Garnet red color with variable intensity depending on the vintage. The grapes come from different sub-zones in Serralunga and this gives them a broad and variable spectrum of perfumes, ranging from tempting spicy notes to those of a sweeter, floral, and fruity nature. A variety of sensations, with a fullbodied, classic and well structured wine which ages well and perfectly represents the important character of our land. Service Temperature: It is best to decant and serve it at temperatures between 18- 20°C (64-68°). Food Pairings: It achieves its best expression when served with red meats, particularly game, and with dishes dressed with truffle. It is also excellent with fresh egg pasta and meat sauce, and with risotto, as well as medium-mature cow’s milk and goat’s milk cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Very fresh and attractive Barolo with abundant red cherries and a wealth of sweet, rose-petal aromas, too. The palate has a very plush, fleshy and juicy core of fruit in the red-cherry zone. The tannins are velvety and long. One of the more approachable 2015s. Drink or hold.
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Wine & Spirits
This is refreshing and bright for the vintage, with scents of dewy rose petals and crunchy berry flavors.The tannins are fine and firm, their texture like new suede, and notes of orange peel and rusty iron add to the wine’s cool brightness.
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Wine Spectator
Lean, yet evocative of cherry, strawberry, earth and tobacco notes, this red is tightly wound, featuring a good dose of bracing acidity, with firm, dusty tannins. Starts out better than it finishes, but remains solid. Best from 2022 through 2040.
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.