Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Such focused and precise fruit on the nose with a lovely ripeness of plums, flowers and light hazelnuts. Full-bodied, velvety and polished. Very pretty finish. Chewy now but will soften with time. Better in 2018.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Barolo Monvigliero really jumps out, thanks to its larger-than-life flavor profile and its impressive intensity. The wine shows ripe fruit aromas of dark cherry and plum, but it balances those aromas very nicely against spice, dark tobacco and crushed mineral. The effect is elegant and polished, and the tannins add ample support at the back. This wine promises a slow evolution over time. Paolo Scavino raises the banner high for the Monvigliero cru.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of red berry, rose petal, blue flower, crushed herb and a whiff of espresso lift out of the glass along with a menthol note. The taut vibrant palate offers crushed strawberry, tart cherry, white pepper and star anise alongside tightly knit fine-grained tannins. It's extremely elegant but still youthfully austere at this stage so give it several more years to unwind. Drink 2023–2038.
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Wine Spectator
A suave red, this exhibits bright cherry, strawberry, iron, tar and tobacco flavors. Harmonious, with civilized, integrated tannins providing support. Shows terrific texture and spicy length. Best from 2019 through 2036.
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.