Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Bright and complex with licorice, tar and rose petals. Hints of plums, too. Medium to full body and chewy, round tannins. Plenty of dried meat, spices and berries. A pretty finish. Shows intensity for the vintage. Already very pretty but drink in 2020.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Barolo shows crisp lines and sharp delineation. At its core, this cool-vintage Nebbiolo offers dark and enriched fruit that is layered between spice, grilled herb, cola and balsam herb. These various components find very good balance and unity, yet ultimately this remains a slightly thinner and more accessible vintage overall. Bottle production is big for the appellation with 80,000 units released.
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Wine Spectator
This is light-weight despite burly tannins that shore up earth, tar, cherry and underbrush flavors. Builds in both power and breadth, ending with a dense matrix of tannins. Best from 2022 through 2035.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of raspberry compote, coconut and a whiff of oak-driven spice lead the nose. On the firm, linear palate, assertive fine-grained tannins and vibrant acidity support cherry, pomegranate and clove. It's still youthfully austere and needs a few more years to fully come around. Drink 2022–2026.
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Wine & Spirits
Pio Cesare’s classic Barolo includes fruit from family-owned vineyards in four Barolo communes. Notes of sweet spice and chocolate jump out initially, and firm oak tannins dominate, eventually receding to reveal plummy red fruit flavors and notes of cherry cola.
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.