Winemaker Notes
Ideal for delicate meat dishes such as grilled fillet, roast or first courses such as ravioli, tagliatelle with meat sauce, truffled food and aged cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A very ripe and decadent red with so much depth and richness. Full-bodied, deep and rich. A big combination of ripe fruit and tannins. Give this a few years to come together. Better after 2022.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Parusso 2016 Barolo offers that distinctive Parusso nose that I have come to understand over the years I have been tasting these wines. There is a touch of ripe fruit, dried grape skins and stems that pop out over rich black fruit, tar and black spice. There's a sultry and smoky aspect to the wine with extra concentration and tannic astringency on the finish. This vintage is even more structured, suggesting a longer cellar aging time. If you are invested in the Parusso philosophy, this is a good place to start.
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Wine Spectator
This red is all about sweet, ripe cherry and plum flavors mingling with balsamic notes of juniper, eucalyptus and thyme. Tar and sanguine accents chime in. It has a solid grip of tannins that pinch the finish for now. Best from 2023 through 2039.
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.