Winemaker Notes
Noble and generous, this Barolo from Old Piedmont is a wine suited to very long aging, displaying a garnet red color and a fragrant bouquet of licorice and tobacco, while the palate is full and elegant, conquering the senses with strength, harmony, and fullness, making it an ideal match for important dishes, roasted or grilled red meats, game, gourmet white and red meat preparations, and ripe cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Assertive aromas of graphite, violets, mint and chalky minerality. A stunning, precise wine focused on elegance, with citrus flavors, a full body and lavish, velvety tannins supported by freshness. Long, youthful and savory aftertaste. Try from 2026, but best after 2030.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Barolo Marcenasco pours a reflective brick red color and offers a good deal of complexity and clarity on the nose, opening to notes of preserved orange, anise, cranberries, redcurrants, and minty herbs. The palate is similarly focused, with a refreshing energy and spine of acidity, well-defined and coiled tannins, and a zesty feel through the finish. It is a lovely wine from Ratti with a lot of personality that can age gracefully and improve over the coming 15 or more years. I would love to cover more of their wines in the future.
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Wine Spectator
Macerated cherry and raspberry fruit is shaded by orange peel, iron and menthol flavors in this juicy red. Needs time to absorb the chewy tannins, with a mix of savory and fruity elements on the finish. Shows fine balance and length.
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Vinous
The 2021 Barolo Marcenasco is gorgeous. It offers a captivating mix of La Morra finesse and structure, a pretty appealing combination in my book. Macerated cherry, leather, rose petal, incense and orange peel lend shades of exoticism throughout. This is such a gorgeous edition of the Marcenasco.
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.