Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Ripe strawberry and blueberry aromas, with hints of lemongrass, lead to a full-bodied palate, with big, chewy, juicy character. Powerful and very rich, with dried mushroom flavors and hints of raisin and spices.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2005 Barolo Cappella di Santo Stefano come across as incredibly pure and vibrant in a linear expression of dark cherries, plums, flowers, intense spices and minerals. Here, too, the wine reveals superb energy and focus framed by powerful tannins. The wine's commendable clarity and precision are impossible to ignore. This is a magnificent effort. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2030.
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Wine & Spirits
From the Santo Stefano di Perno cru, where nebbiolo ripens on a hillside fanning out from south-southeast to southwest, this is a concentrated and powerful 2005. Its initial barrel scents completely give way to luscious red fruit and supple, meaty tannins. A blast of nebbiolo power slowly dissipates through a long finish, with savory hints of porcini and roses. A hearty wine with a formidable structure, this is suited to long development in the cellar.
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.