Tenute Neirano Barolo 2016
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Suckling
James -
Wong
Wilfred
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Red, with yellowish orange hints due to the ageing process. Dry, velvety and austere, with a bouquet of faded rose, violet, spicy and rich with gorgeous ripe fruit, very aromatic. Aged 3 years in large oak casks and in bottles for the final six months. Pair with red meat, game, and pungent cheeses. Grown on the steep hills of Monferrato, cultivation here is very demanding in terms of soil and microclimate. These grapes are of the highest quality, balanced between color, body and acidity. When the maturation is over, Nebbiolo wines have a perfume with spicy notes of ripe fruit. These are powerful wines that often express their best following a slow aging period.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A fresh, fruity red with plum, chocolate and walnut aromas and flavors. It’s medium-to full-bodied with round tannins and a juicy finish. Easy to drink now, but can age.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2016 Tenute Neirano is striking and authentic. TASTING NOTES: This wine shines with aromas and flavors of pungent earth, dried spices, dusty notes, and black fruits. Enjoy it with an old-fashioned beef stew. (Tasted: July 10, 2022, San Francisco, CA)
Other Vintages
2019-
Suckling
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Suckling
James
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Wong
Wilfred -
Suckling
James
Tenute Neirano is a small estate in the heart of Monferrato in Piemonte. Giacomo Sperone founded the family winery in 1911. The 5th generation of the family has now joined Tenute Neirano to continue the vision and passion of sustainably farming their 60 acres of pristine vineyards. Tenute Neirano is located in a lovingly restored 17th century villa built on top of a hill in Casalotto di Mombaruzzo, near Asti, in the heart of Monferrato. It is surrounded by estate vineyards in the heart of the production of some of the top wines of the Piedmont region. The region is unique, it has a colder continental climate in winter, with low rainfall as a result of the rain shadow effect of the Alps, followed by warm dry summers.
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.