Winemaker Notes
This Barolo is made from the grapes grown in our youngest and most vigorous vineyards in the townships of La Morra and Monforte d’Alba, and vinified as it was in the past for a balanced harmony of its diverse characteristics.
A ruby red of medium intensity and garnet red hues. On the nose, intense, harmonic, with ethereal and captivating nuances and a final note of red fruit. On the palate, warm, balanced, with good persistence; already drinking well. Finishes with polished tannins and a delicate vanilla aftertaste.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Barolo is a blend of fruit from Arborina and Gattera in La Morra and Castelletto in Monforte d'Alba, which are three of the estate's coolest growing sites. You get the smooth or silky disposition of fruit from La Morra blended with the power and precision of Monforte d'Alba. This wine shows nicely in this vintage thanks to dark fruit, tar, smoke and crushed rock. There is a fragrant hint of violets too.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of red berry, underbrush and oak-driven spice waft out of the glass. Elegant and already accessible, the savory palate features sour cherry, orange zest, star anise and mocha alongside chalky, drying tannins.
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James Suckling
Rather easygoing Barolo with some nice red-fruit character that gets a little washed away on the palate. Some firm tannin, but a little short for now.
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.