Winemaker Notes
Vigna Colonnello 2019 is garnet red. On the nose, aromas of black cherries and plums encounter light balsamic hints and notes of roses. The bouquet is completed by impressions of blackberries, wild flowers and small red fruit. The palate is elegant and refined, mouth filling with supple polished tannins sustained by excellent freshness. The long finish echoes aromas perceived on the nose.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A restrained wine with potpourri, bark, rhubarb, anise, licorice, orange leaves, wild strawberries and red cherries on the nose. Full-bodied, ripe and velvety, showing condensed tannins that are fresh, elegant and long, with rhubarb candy and licorice flavors. Endless savoriness.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A limited release of 5,000 bottles, the Prunotto 2019 Barolo Riserva Bussia Vigna Colonnello has a little more density and richness that is pegged to this specific vintage; however, the house style remains streamlined. The bouquet is delicate and perfumed with dried flower, redcurrant, licorice and pressed rose. Fruit comes from a one-hectare site in Monforte d'Alba at 350 meters above sea level with southwestern and western exposures on mostly clay soils with some sand and silt.
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Wine Spectator
This is fresh and juicy, straddling a fine line between finesse and power. Fading cherry, strawberry, green olive and underbrush flavors are aligned with a layer of iron. There are still dense tannins, yet this has settled into a nice groove. Persistent finish. Best from 2027 through 2045.
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Wine Enthusiast
From just one precious hectare comes this study in contrasts. Raspberries and pomegranate notes float above deeper aromas of sweet herbs and aged leather. The palate unfolds like chapters in a story: first bright red fruits, then wild mountain herbs, followed by truffle and dried rose petals, all carried on silken tannins that seem to last for days. Drink from 2028.
Cellar Selection
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.