Winemaker Notes
Mauro Veglio Barolo Vigneto Gattera is a light ruby red with subtle garnet reflections. Ethereal, with uniquely sweet, spicy notes that blend perfectly with fruity and flowery aromas. Warm, slightly balsamic with delicately tannic notes offset with a good balance of alcohol. Well-structured and generous body with sweet, mouthwatering tannins. The excellent exposition of its vineyards and great thermal energy are determining factors in this wine’s character.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
For co-owner Alessandro Veglio, 2020 is ‘a 2018 with more flesh’. Gattera's limestone soils provide good structure. A quite stern nose of cherry kernel, rhubarb, fresh violet and blood orange is followed by a savoury and filigree palate, with a texture to the tannins of rare elegance. Full and broad on the finish, with hints of cherry kernel.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Thankfully, the Mauro Veglio 2020 Barolo Gattera is more immediately expressive compared to some of the other new releases in this portfolio. With fruit from the winery's home base of La Morra, you are treated to dark fruit aromas of rose, pressed flower and crushed stone and a soft and delicate mouthfeel. One-quarter of the wine sees new oak, and the rest is aged in neutral barrel. This is a 9,000-bottle release.
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Vinous
The 2020 Barolo Gattera is a dark, at times somber, La Morra Barolo. Black cherry, plum, lavender, licorice, dried herbs and mocha all meld together. Pliant and deep, with notable concentration and breadth on the palate, the Gattera is a fine example of this site. Today, the 2020 is a bit closed, but I see that as a positive.
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.