Winemaker Notes
Garnet red in color. The nose is rich and deep, with notes of hay, violet, tobacco, white pepper, wild mint and licorice. Robust on the palate, with a taut, mineral finish. The tannins are dense but silky and well balanced.
Barolo Le Coste di Monforte should be paired with fresh Piedmontese pasta with truffle or meat sauce, roasted red meats, braised meats, and long-aged cheeses.
100% Nebbiolo
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A beam of pure cherry anchors this rich, fleshy red. Strawberry, iron, tobacco, wild thyme and rosemary flavors chime in, all supported by a line of dusty tannins.
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James Suckling
Tar and roses with freshly sliced plums and some cherries. Medium-bodied with racy tannins that are chewy. Juicy underneath. Drink after 2026.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Pecchenino 2019 Barolo Le Coste di Monforte (with 4,500 bottles made) reveals a smoky character with campfire ash and toasted spice. At its core, the wine shows dark fruit and plum that dovetails into a medium-thick textural build. You have the structural momentum of the vintage with a more open-knit and accessible side for medium-term drinking.
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.