Winemaker Notes
Fragrant and inviting, with notes of roses, tangerine and violet; high-quality tannins on the palate, evolving into balsamic and floral aromas. The complexity of its structure reveals the particular characteristics of its native soil.
Pair with roasted and braised meat, game, strong and mature cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Elegant raspberry nose. Sleek attack, very polished and concentrated, with sufficient tannins and discreet acidity. Stylish and very long, this has charm as well as depth. The finish and aftertaste are absolutely superb.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Of these three new Baroli from Palladino, the 2016 Barolo Parafada is the wine that, to me, offers the most enjoyable and accurate balance between power and elegance. These 2016 releases show enormous fruit weight and more alcoholic heat (with a 15% alcohol content in this case) than I would have expected. However, this wine rounds off that power with pretty layers of ripe cherry, black plum, spice, leather and licorice. This is a full-bodied Barolo to pair with breaded veal steak. The good thing about these wines from Palladino is that you don't need to wait too long to drink them. They are just about ready straight out of the gate, or you could put them aside and wait longer if you want.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of mature berry, French oak, moist earth, leather and a whiff of rose take shape on this full-bodied red. Reflecting the nose, the firm brawny palate offers coconut, vanilla, dried cherry and the heat of evident alcohol alongside assertive, grainy tannins that clench the 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.