Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Molino family shows a deft hand with Nebbiolo, as is illustrated by the 2019 Barolo. This wine shows great harmony, a lightweight style and a polished mouthfeel, with strong power too. The aromas follow a classic Nebbiolo playlist with small currants, blue flower and rusty nail. As far as classic Barolo goes, the 2019 is about as classic as they come. This wine is especially lifted and bright.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Pale ruby with an orange hue, the 2019 Barolo is expressive with floral and spice, including dried flowers, fresh herbs, and pomegranate. It is medium-bodied and structured, with elegance and freshness, and strikes a balance between tension and gracefulness. Fresh with raspberries and a note of sandy earth, it is drinking well now but should not be ruled out for aging phenomenally over the next 10-12 years.
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James Suckling
Raspberries, peaches, roses, white pepper and dried lemons on the nose. So fresh, with chalky tannins that turn juicy and a full body balanced by vibrant acidity. Deliciously open.
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Wine Spectator
A firm red highlighted by ripe cherry, strawberry, hibiscus and tomato leaf flavors. Reveals earth and eucalyptus details, while gripping tannins flex on the lingering finish. Best from 2025 through 2040. 3,500 cases made, 2,000 cases imported.
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.