Winemaker Notes
This robust and rich Barolo is austere yet perfectly expresses the great complexity of the Serralunga d’Alba soils, making it ideal for long aging. It should be decanted and served at 18–20°C (64–68°F) and pairs elegantly with important rice and pasta dishes, such as risotto cooked in Barolo, as well as rich main courses like roast meats. After several years of aging, it reveals its full potential as a contemplative wine, also enjoyed with hard or medium-hard cheeses. The deep garnet red color develops bright hues over time, while the bouquet is intense and complex, offering red fruit alongside floral and spicy notes, with aging highlighting the elegance and charm characteristic of Nebbiolo grapes.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Massolino works mostly with Serralunga d'Alba fruit, but this is the one exception. From a vineyard site in Castiglione Falletto with sandy limestone soils, the 2020 Barolo Parussi is a stunner. The wine is radiant and bright with an especially direct and focused quality. I would describe it as razor-sharp. This adds to a general sense of fine polish and tightness. Rating : 97+
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Wine Spectator
Forthcoming aromas of pine and juniper give way to flavors of cherry, raspberry, peony and earth in this harmonious red. Light, powdery tannins line the persistent, raspberry-infused aftertaste.
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.