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
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Palladino 2020 Barolo Parafada (with 5,000 bottles made) is quite bright and vertical in its delivery. Unlike the Ornato, which shows a softer and thicker texture, the Parafada focuses on the high tones with rusty mineral, rose, licorice and navel orange. The 15% alcohol content is even better integrated in the case of this wine, and you'll appreciate the elegance of the tannins. This is my favorite wine in this flight from Palladino.
-
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Barolo Parafada boasts a medium red/garnet color and is more forward in the glass, with smokey notes of toasted incense, dried red cherries, anise, and cloves. It offers good freshness through the palate, with ripe, coiled tannins with good tension, fresh acidity, and a long, nicely tapered finish. It’s a very attractive wine that retains its good freshness in this warm vintage. Drink 2025-2035.
-
James Suckling
Spiced and a little savory, this red shows subtle notes of red berries, licorice, dark cedar, iodine and hints of nutshells. Juicy and mouth-filling on the palate with tense, chewy tannins and a firm, tightly wound finish. Focused and structured. Drink from 2028.
-
Wine Enthusiast
This Barolo entices with intriguing aromas of oolong tea and a medley of exotic spices, including star anise, cardamom, and Sichuan pepper. The nose is pretty and inviting, hinting at the wine's complexity. On the palate, the wine is firm and taut, showcasing a structured backbone that is balanced by a delicate prettiness. The interplay between the tea-like notes, diverse spices, and the wine's elegant texture creates a unique and engaging expression of Nebbiolo. Drink 2026-2044.
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.