Winemaker Notes
Match this wine with beef, buffalo, boar and venison dishes, rich stews and aged Parmesan.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
A rich and dense red with dried cherry, chocolate and hazelnut aromas and flavors. Full body, round and velvety tannins and a flavorful finish. Drink or hold. Wonderful future here.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Cerequio is arguably Michele Chairlo's most important vineyard cru and the prominent Italian vintner has embraced its subtleties and nuances better than most. The 2012 Barolo Cerequio is interesting because although the aromatic intensity is muted compared to other more celebrated vintages, the wine's inner complexity is intact. The bouquet is redolent of wild berry, tar, smoke, licorice and spice. The overall effect is ethereal and pure.
-
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2012 Michele Chiarlo Cerequio Barolo is firm and stately. This bold red wine exhibits tremendous rush of bright fruits and enticing savory aromas and flavors; The long finish invites a meal of grilled meat and aged cheeses. Drinks pretty well now. (Tasted: September 12, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
-
Wine Enthusiast
A lovely bouquet of woodland berry, rose, violet and baking spice takes center stage. The palate offers tart cherry, cranberry, anise and chopped herb alongside silky, polished tannins that make this already approachable.
-
Wine Spectator
Aromas of rose, cherry and licorice signal this fluid, vibrant red. An elegant version that builds to a long, mineral-tinged finish, with refined tannins for support. Best from 2018 through 2032. 1,250 cases made.
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.