Winemaker Notes
Ideal for delicate meat dishes such as grilled fillet, overcooked in the oven or first courses such as ravioli, tagliatelle with meat sauce, truffled foods and aged cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Tar and roses with some dried rose stem and strawberries on the nose. Medium- to full-bodied with growing tannins and a chewy finish. Fresh at the end.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This wine plays the role of the classic Barolo release, or the "annata" (vintage) wine if you prefer. With the white label, the Parusso 2019 Barolo Perarmando is dedicated to the man who founded this family-run estate in 1971. Armando's blend (with fruit from Bussia, Mosconi and Mariondino) shows some of the tighter or more astringent aromas that come from the stems and the skins of the Nebbiolo grape. You also get a lot of the pulpiness too with bold cherry and dried blackberry aromas. Those come on the heels of grilled herb and dark licorice.
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Wine Spectator
This red exudes eucalyptus, pine, juniper and toasty oak flavors. The fruit component takes a back seat, yet this feels supple until the firm grip emerges on the finish. Best from 2027 through 2043. 2,040 cases made, 500 cases imported.
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Decanter
Marco Parusso is one of the most inspiring producers in the Langhe, with a modern style so clear that his wines are easily recognisable blind, and it matches quite well with a classic vintage such as 2019. Garnet in the glass, Perarmando shows sweet red fruits, macerated violets and some earthiness. The attack is soft and full of sucrosity, with a lot of fruit concentration and a peachy and orangey finish. There's massive extraction of tannins evident, with refreshing but not high acidity. A bold style.
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Vinous
The 2019 Barolo Perarmando is a very pretty, translucent wine. Crushed red berry fruit, kirsch, mint, orange peel and spice are all lacer together in this lifted, sculpted Barolo. There's terrific purity to the flavors. That said, the 2019 comes across as a touch light relative to most recent vintages, while the tannins are a bit severe.
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.