Winemaker Notes
Garnet red. A delicate and persistent bouquet with traces of licorice, mint and Lebanese cedar pine. Mineral, full flavored, warm and agreeable tannic.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Floral, berry and white pepper aromas introduce this elegant red, with flavors of cherry, orange peel, grass and mineral in harmony with the sleek profile. Firms up on the finish, yet remains juicy, giving a lasting impression of sweet fruit. Best from 2022 through 2038.
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James Suckling
This is very attractive with fragrant, spicy red-cherry and strawberry aromas, as well as a gently tarry edge and a new-leather note. The palate has a beautifully ripe, plush and approachable, fleshy core of sweet red-fruit flavor. Supple finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pietro Ratti and his family have created a truly beautiful expression from the Conca cru in La Morra. The 2015 Barolo Conca is more austere and closed initially compared to many of its peers from nearby vineyard sites. But you still get a sense of the profound depth and power of this warm vintage. This wine has the textural richness and fiber that is typical of this vintage with a more structured and sophisticated inner personality.
Rating: 94+ -
Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of rose, exotic spice, camphor and woodland berry shape the nose. Focused and linear, the elegant palate offers juicy raspberry, strawberry compote and star anise alongside taut, fine-grained tannins and fresh acidity. Drink 2021–2027.
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.