Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A rather soft and rich young Barolo with strawberry and floral character and hints of watermelon. It’s full-bodied and layered. Rich finish. So attractive now, but will age nicely.
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Wine Spectator
Balsamic aromas and flavors of menthol, mint, hay and tobacco wrap around the cherry core in this firm, linear red, which is ripe and focused, lingering with a mouthwatering finish.
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Wine & Spirits
The Pecchenino brothers make this wine with fruit from three crus in Monforte d’Alba. It opens with notes of toasted nuts and loamy earth that dissipate with air. Firm, leathery tannins frame juicy dark-cherry and plum flavors laced with fennel and licorice, and the wine takes a savory turn toward the finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Barolo San Giuseppe is a blend of fruit from Le Coste di Monforte, Bussia and Ravera in Monforte (in Monforte d'Alba). These results are a little timid at first, taking time to reveal wild cherry, dried blackberry, cola and balsam herb. Pine and rosemary tones are evident in this mid-weight, near-term Barolo.
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.