Winemaker Notes
Noble and generous, glory of old Piedmont, a wine suitable for long aging, Barolo is theabsolute master of the table. It conquers the palate with the conviction of strength,harmony and fullness and holds its sway at length. Barolo Marcenasco has ancientorigins. There are historical documents from the "Rigestum Comunis Albe" that bearwitness to the cultivation of the Nebbiolo vine in the "Marcenascum" area already backin the 12th Century. Barolo Marcenasco is smooth, balanced, elegant and faithfullyreflects the typical characteristics of the La Morra sub zone.
Color: intense garnet red. A bouquet with traces of licorice and tobacco.Full flavored, full-bodied and elegant.
Food matches: Red meats on the spit or grilled, game, "grande cuisine" white and redmeat dishes and aged cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This fabulous Nebbiolo displays aromas of very ripe strawberry and cappuccino. Full-bodied, with supervelvety tannins and incredible concentration. All the tannins are coated with gorgeous fruit. Best after 2013.
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.