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
Smoky incense lifts from the 2018 Barolo San Giuseppe, followed by notes of palo santo, sage, and red cherry. Medium bodied on the palate, with fine but present tannins and notes of pomegranate, tea leaf, and orange rind, it is attractive and structured for the vintage. Drink 2025-2040.
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James Suckling
Lots of forest floor and mild spice to the dried-cherry notes on the nose. Medium-to full-bodied with a tight, focused core of dried red fruit and an underlay of very fine tannins. Tight finish. Tasty and racy. The tannins pull on the finish for now. Give it until 2024 to unwind a little.
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Wine Spectator
This silky Barolo is marked by macerated cherry, strawberry, rose hip and a hint of tamarind. The tannins are interwoven so well, this is almost seamless. Very drinkable now, yet the compact finish suggests waiting a few years. Fine length. Best from 2025 through 2040.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Barolo San Giuseppe is bright and nicely aromatic with dried raspberry, candied cherry, violet and powdery earth. This medium-bodied Barolo ends with smoothness and finely integrated tannins that give an extra push in terms of mouthfeel and finish.
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.