Winemaker Notes
The 2020 Barolo Bussia marries elegance and power. Dark, spiced and super-expressive, the Bussia is striking in its beauty. Rose petal, mint, orange peel, lavender and blue fruits open first, followed by a whole range of balsamic inflections that develop in the glass
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Dried orange peel with nutmeg, intriguing minerals and some sweet spices and a touch of hazelnuts. Full body with broad, tight tannins and a flavorful finish. A touch of vanilla and citrus at the end. Very long. Drink from 2026.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Parusso 2020 Barolo Bussia has an unexpected combination of rose water, honey cake or Middle Eastern dessert, candy closed with wax, paraffin, syrupy dark fruit and bramble. Bussia in the creative hands of vintner Marco Parusso offers a wide-ranging kaleidoscope of offbeat Nebbiolo aromas, many of which reflect warm-vintage conditions and concentrated fruit flavors, especially in 2020.
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Wine Spectator
This complex red combines floral, savory and fruity elements in the best sense, with rose, cherry, eucalyptus, tomato leaf, menthol and iron flavors wrapped in a strong tannic embrace. Balanced overall, yet needs time to tame the tannins. Best from 2027 through 2040.
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.