Winemaker Notes
Light ruby red and faint garnet notes. Extremely fruity and delicately harmonious. Hints of strawberry and raspberry. Absolutely fine and elegant. It has good persistence, but with a finale characterized by remarkably soft tannins. It is particularly enjoyable to savor its initial freshness and then appreciate the evolution of its aromas as the wine slowly warms in the glass.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
This 2018 is the third vintage of Mauro Veglio's Paiagallo. Here, Alessandro Veglio today manages a plot of 40-year-old vines in the middle of the hill, between 240 and 270 metres above sea level with a southeast to east exposure over sandstone soil (more so than the lower plots). The wine packs a punch for its multifaceted aromas of peony and violet, wild strawberry and blood orange. Both violets and oranges come back on the palate, not ungainly woven with firm tannins. It's full on the mid-palate, with almost-zesty acidity and a sweet, ripe finish. The wine is aged in large French untoasted oak casks for 24 months. A great example of the 2018 vintage.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Mauro Veglio 2018 Barolo Paiagallo shows a point of brightness that gives this wine an especially etched or linear performance. Fruit comes from 40-year-old vines and skin maceration times are slightly longer (lasting from 22 to 25 days), giving the wine more power. It wraps smoothly and completely over the palate, imparting sweet fruit, wild rose, blood orange and grilled herb along the way. Aged in large oak casks, the Paiagallo is tight and structured at this young stage, and the wine will loosen up and soften with more time in the bottle.
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Wine Enthusiast
Floral aromas recalling red rose mingle with menthol, woodland berry and dark spice. Firm and elegantly structured, the bright, savory palate delivers ripe Morello cherry, orange zest and licorice alongside tightly wound, fine-grained tannins. It's young and nervous, with vibrant acidity. Drink 2026–2038.
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James Suckling
Rich, fresh raspberries on the nose and palate. Medium-bodied with bright fruit and some fine tannin. Fresh, lightly firm 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.