Winemaker Notes
#40 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2021
The 2016 Mauro Molino Barolo carries an intense bouquet with hints of ripe fruit and rose petals. Persistent in taste, thanks to its fine and enveloping tannins that give an elegant pleasantness to this wine.
Pair this versatile wine with any type of meat, cheese, or pasta dish.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Barolo has a medium ruby hue and offers more rich concentration in its notes of ripe red cherry, spiced plum, balsamic, and licorice. Ripe with sweet velveteen tannins and raspberry liqueur, it has layers of apricot and fresh earth that unfold with more depth and persistence. This beautiful wine has a lot of charm now and will be wonderful over the coming decades.
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James Suckling
Lots of wood showing now, but also plenty of berry and strawberry character. Medium-to full-bodied with firm and juicy fruit and a long, flavorful finish. Chewy yet polished tannins. Needs time to soften. A special wine to commemorate the winery’s 40th anniversary.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Here's a classic interpretation of this vintage and a wine that will bring a big return on such a relatively small investment with proper cellaring. The 2016 Barolo is a tonic and compact expression of Nebbiolo that will flesh out and take on more volume with time. This estate is based in the comune or village of La Morra, known for graceful, floral and softly textured Baroli. However, this wine is a blend of fruit from Annunziata and Berri in La Morra and Perno in Monforte d'Alba. This vintage offers the power and grit that will carry it forward. Rating : 93+
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Wine Spectator
This red is both spicy and earthy, with cherry and strawberry fruit between those two poles. Mint, tar and tobacco elements chime in as this remains firmly structured through the finish.
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.