Winemaker Notes
Renato Ratti Rocche dell'Annunziata Barolo is a garnet red color. Delicate and persistent fragrance with trace scents of licorice, rose and violet. Full flavored, warm, with extremely elegant tannins offering long persistence.
A great wine for important dishes, red meats roasted on a spit or grilled, game, dishes of gourmet white and red meats and ripe cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A very fine and polished Barolo with lots of orange peel and sliced dried strawberry. Medium body with solid and linear tannins that run through the center palate. Very structured. The lighter color is slightly off-putting but it shows structure and solidity. Give this time to open. Try after 2029.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Medium red with a hint of orange, the 2020 Barolo Rocche Dell' Annunziata offers a spicier and more mineral-accented profile to balance out its pure ripe floral fruits, with notes of crushed stones, dark mineral, candied cherries, orange zest, and sweet cloves. It moves effortlessly and expectantly to the palate, with all its components coming together with a stylistic, weightless feel, yet it doesn’t lack for complexity and structure. It has chiseled but elegant tannins, evenly balanced acidity, and a long finish that closes with a touch more warmth than the other two wines from Ratti.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
At the top of the production pyramid is the Ratti 2020 Barolo Rocche dell'Annunziata, which ages in oak botti for two years.This wine is quite elegant and pretty thanks to a chalky note that sets it apart but that also gives it an open-knit and accessible personality. You'll find that the aromas are delicate and fine, and perhaps this wine is a little leaner in mouthfeel. It concludes with a polished texture with cola, currant berry and pressed flowers.
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Wine Spectator
Infused with cherry, raspberry, floral and summer meadow aromas and flavors, this red is rich yet gentle, yet there's plenty of bright acidity and uplifting tannins, while the finish evokes mineral and savory spice elements.
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Wine Enthusiast
This Barolo is a stunning expression of Nebbiolo from one of the region’s most renowned crus. Elegant and pretty, with a captivating bouquet of red fruits, floral notes and subtle spices, this well-structured wine showcases the finesse and complexity that define its terroir. Refined tannins and balanced acidity promise a long, rewarding evolution.
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Vinous
The 2020 Barolo Rocche dell’Annunziata is laced with crushed red berry fruit, spice, dried rose petal and sweet wood tones. This mid-weight, lifted Barolo is classic Rocche. I admire its poise and overall balance, even if the oak imprint is a touch strong at this stage.
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.