Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Castelletto performed quite well in 2019 and this example does not differ. On the nose it is intensely red fruited, accompanied by fresh violet, cinnamon candy, but mostly focused on roots and minerality. If the attack is firm and slightly austere, the flavour is intoxicating, bright in its definition and of a stunning savouriness and length. It just needs to be cellared for longer.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
In the dark blue label, the Mauro Veglio 2019 Barolo Castelletto shines from within the glass with dark ruby and garnet highlights. The Castelletto (with fruit from Monforte d'Alba) has a dark center of gravity with black cherry, plum and iron ore. This wine offers good power, structure and an especially firm texture. At its core, it is chiseled and hard. It definitely needs more cellar age, but I suspect this bottle will be worth the wait.
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James Suckling
Perfumed and attractive nose with strawberries, roses and other flowers. Medium-bodied with fine tannins that are polished and focused. Hints of fresh sage, too. Nicely crafted. Best after 2027.
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Vinous
Veglio's 2019 Barolo Casteletto is redolent of spice, menthol, licorice, sage and lavender. Incisive Monforte tannins and bright acids give the Castelletto its shape and a good bit of overall drive as well. I would cellar this for a few years and see what happens.
Rating: 93+
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.