Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2009 Barolo Margheria, however, moves us over to the Serralunga d’Alba township where power and structure are the name of the game. This wine shows big bones with firmly rooted tannins and a bold, fleshy quality of fruit. Black currant, chopped mint and licorice are woven tightly within the fabric of the wine.
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Wine Spectator
Beautiful cherry, strawberry, tobacco and leather flavors are displayed on the rich texture and firm structure of this sinewy red. The tannins are dusty, but this manages to find equilibrium on the long, savory finish.
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Wine & Spirits
From a cru in Serralunga d’Alba, this is youthfully tough, all hard edges at the moment. The aroma is closed off by reduction and the acidity is as potent as the tannins. Yet the fruit packed into the middle of the wine bodes well for long aging.
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James Suckling
Attractive pureness of fruit here with hints of cut wood and rose petals on the nose and palate. Medium to full body and fine tannins
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.