Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Nebbiolo
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2018 Barolo Bussia is suave, elegant and silky. Crushed. Flowers, spice, mint, cinnamon, sweet red cherry and anise all meld together beautifully in the glass. Light on its feet, with terrific depth, the 2018 has so much going on. Sweet floral top notes lift the finish nicely.
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James Suckling
So perfumed and beautiful with sap, roses and plums on the nose, following through to a medium body with very fine tannins and a long, creamy-textured finish. Delicious to drink now, but will improve with age.
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Wine Spectator
Fragrant, boasting floral, berry, cherry, mown hay and eucalyptus flavors backed by an open profile. Firms up but remains compact and slim overall. Shows fine balance and length. Best from 2024 through 2038
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Wine Enthusiast
Wild red berries, chalk and savory spices define the nose of this wine. The wine is firm and structured surrounded by a core of dried cherry, warm earth and clove, finishing with moderate acidity.
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.