Winemaker Notes
Ruby red with orange reflections. Bouquet is intense with notesof ripe currants and raspberries accented by hints of truffle andviolet. Flavor is elegant and balanced with good body; persistent sweet tannins.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Barolo San Giuseppe has soft floral aromatics, with dried strawberry, dried roses, tar, and baby powder. The palate is open with juicy black cherry, fresh sage, and fresh blood orange. The San Giuseppe is quaffable and fresh, with approachable tannic structure. Drink 2021-2036.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This is a proprietary blend of Nebbiolo made by Pecchenino. The 2016 Barolo San Giuseppe is a blend of fruit from three crus. It breaks down as 35% from Le Coste di Monforte, 15% from Bussia and 50% from Ravera in Monforte. There is a sultry theme here (like we saw in the Barolo Bussia) with dark fruit, pressed blackberry, black licorice and spice. This winery tends to experiment with long skin maceration times at warm temperatures. These techniques result in the density and sheer fruit weight you get here.
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.