Winemaker Notes
Garnet red color. Spices, leather, violet and tilled soil are among the aromas that emerges on
the nose. Berry flavors abound, layered with vanilla, licorice, sage and balsamic notes which add complexity and intensity. Ferrous tannins giving the wine brightness and lift. The vibrant finish is highlighted by a blast of orange peel.
Pair with fresh pasta with truffle or meat sauce, roasted red meats, braised meats, and long-aged cheeses are the perfect accompaniment to this wine.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Still vibrant color in the glass and exuding aromas of rich red berries and dried cherries, together with a nutty-oak nuance. Full-bodied with sweet berries and oak spice that intermingle nicely to provide a full-flavored and integrated palate. Structured and well balanced, this is drinking well now, but will age nicely for some time yet. Perfectly in-tune. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
Graphite, eucalyptus and spice aromas lead off, while sweet, jammy cherry and berry flavors abound, with accents of tea and iron. Firms up on the long finish. This needs some time. Best from 2019 through 2033.
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Vinous
The 2011 Barolo Le Coste di Monforte is both deeper and fresher than the San Giuseppe. Here the flavors are dark, powerful and incisive, with notable mid-palate creaminess and excellent balance. In keeping with the style of this highly-regarded site, the 2011 is dark, powerful and ample, but it also has enough depth to drink well for another handful of years, if not longer.
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Wine Enthusiast
This opens with earthy aromas that recall mature berry, game, baked soil, menthol and leather. The bracing palate offers dark berry, toast, sage, dark cooking spices and a balsamic note alongside youthfully assertive tannins. Drink after 2019.
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.