Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Bright, with cherry and strawberry flavors, this red is lacy and elegant for the appellation, backed by sufficient tannins. Accents of licorice, spice and tobacco complete the long finish. Best from 2019 through 2035.
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James Suckling
A dense and powerful red with tar, dark berry and spice character such as cloves. Full-bodied, intense and rich. Better than 2010.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
With fruit from Serralunga d'Alba, the 2011 Barolo Margheria benefits from luminous western and southern exposures. The heavy, dense soils of the Margheria vineyard have helped to shape an opulent expression of Nebbiolo that boasts dark color and concentration. Sweet aromas of dried blackberry and cherry lift from the glass, followed by exotic spice, balsam herb and toasted espresso bean. This a Barolo with very broad shoulders that will evolve slowly over the next decade.
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Wine Enthusiast
Dark berry, scorched earth, menthol and baking spice aromas come together on this along with a balsamic note. The tense palate delivers steeped plum, dried black cherry, mint, sage clove and licorice set against youthfully assertive tannins. Drink 2019–2028.
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.