Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Intense, focused minerality comes through from its racy red berries, grapefruit, herbs and iron. Firm on the palate with tight tannins, minerals and a long, precise finish. Perfumed and already approachable, even though this will be better from 2025.
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Wine Spectator
A line of cherry is at the center of this supple red. Rose, mint, earth and anise accents add depth as this tightens up on the finish. Balanced, with a light dusting of tannins in the end. Best from 2028 through 2047.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2020 Rocca Giovanni Barolo shows a light ruby color with a brick tint and reveals rustic aromas with a subtle chalky edge. On the palate, it carries impressive weight, delivering tart red fruit flavors framed by a lingering chalkiness. A fine match with brasato al Barolo—the traditional Piedmontese braised beef dish slowly simmered in Barolo wine with herbs and root vegetables. (Tasted: August 27, 2025, San Francisco, CA)
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Jeb Dunnuck
Deep ruby red, the 2020 Barolo Ravera Di Monforte needs some air on opening before revealing notes of black cherries, blue fruit, violets, balsamic, and licorice. Medium to full-bodied, it’s broad-shouldered and chunky, with building grip and an earthy finish with notes of game. A savory wine, it will do well with another 6-12 months in bottle, but I’m guessing it’s going to hold those tannins after the fruit is gone. Drink 2025-2035.
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Wine Enthusiast
The nose is dominated by an abundance of spiced woods, dried red fruits, and underbrush, with a subtle hint of an old-school character. On the palate, the wine is fine and firm, with a chewy texture that lends a rustic charm in the best possible way. The finish is marked by a distinctive bloody note, providing a captivating and memorable conclusion to the tasting experience.
In Piedmont, Rocca Giovanni is a three-generation, family run winery that cultivates their estate with care, passion and authenticity. They respect the traditions and land, use only eco-friendly treatments in the vineyard and adhere to a sustainable and organic winemaking philosophy. Their impressive range of small production wines include Chardonnay, Barbera, Nebbiolo & several top rated Barolo’s. Rocca Giovanni’s winery consists of 22 hectares of vineyards located in the municipality of Monforte d'Alba Piedmont, a small village which is part of the eleven communes of Barolo of ancient origin which owes its fame to its beauty as well as its great wines.
For three generations, the Rocca family has cultivated their estate with care, passion and authenticity. Over the years the family transitioned from grape growers to producers. The patriarch Giovanni manages the winery with his wife Caterina and the help of oenologist Piero Ballario. Joined by their daughter Federica and son Maurizio the winery now produces about 80,000 bottles a year. From the beginning the company puts into practice a simple philosophy based on respect for tradition of the land and the winery using eco-friendly products for the treatments in the vineyard and a natural winemaking that reflects the lifestyle of the Rocca family. Thanks to the vineyard position (south-east), the successful exposure of the vineyards and the favorable microclimate of the Langhe; each harvest allows the winery to produce consistently excellent results.
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.