Winemaker Notes
A Barolo with a rich and harmonious bouquet with hints of dried fruit and rose petals, with an intense and complex taste, persistent tannins that offer a very long finish.
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
Rich, powerful and expressive with a smoky incense perfume. Vibrant palate of cedar, dried flowers, bright cherry, plum and blood orange. Great length, persistence and typicity. Thrilling drinking.
-
James Suckling
A more modern feel to the nose here with a layer of toasty oak sitting across abundant spiced red-cherry aromas. The palate has a handy array of fine, succulent tannins that carry a long thread of rich, fresh red-plum and cherry flavor. Juicy and intense Barolo. Try from 2022.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Mauro Molino 2015 Barolo Conca is the most impressive and firmly compact of the wines presented this year from this estate in the picturesque, hilltop village of La Morra. Indeed, this wine showcases the textbook La Morra characteristics of fine fruit, elegant tannins and an elongated, streamlined mouthfeel. This Barolo floats forward over the palate with the grace of a snowy egret. It shows a glossy and polished approach that merits pause and consideration. Fermentation is in stainless steel and aging takes place in barrique. A mere 3,068 bottles were released.
-
Wine Spectator
Rich and juicy, with cherry, strawberry, earth and stone flavors, adding accents of licorice and tobacco. The core of sweet, ripe fruit is wrapped in a solid grip of tannins, while the finish extends due to the vibrant acidity. Best from 2022 through 2038.
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.