Winemaker Notes
Its solid structure and firm body are an excellent match with meat and game dishes and with cheese.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Forest floor, new leather, eucalyptus and dried herb aromas lead the nose while the structured, polished palate offers crushed Marasca cherry, pomegranate, white pepper and licorice flavors. Firm, refined tannins provide elegant support. Drink 2020–2030.
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Wine Spectator
Extremely fragrant, with rose, raspberry, menthol and wild herb aromas straddling the floral, fruity and savory camps. Delicate and well-structured, with refined tannins playing off the sweet fruit as this winds down on the finish. Drink now through 2030.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This is the top-shelf wine from the folks at Prunotto. The 2011 Barolo Riserva Bussia Vigna Colonnello shows its pedigree but in a delicate and understated manner. The bouquet is indeed very complex with a long succession of intriguing aromas that span from pressed flower to wild berry to exotic spice. These elements are fitted together with the utmost precision. In the mouth, the wine shows a point of sourness, but it also moves over the palate with silky intensity and firm texture. The finish is extremely long and smooth.
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.