Winemaker Notes
Pair with earthy foods such as stews, game, red meats and strong cheese.
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
The venerated Rocche di Castiglione MGA is noted for its extremely steep slope, southeastern exposure and pure white limestone soil. Vietti has been bottling it separately since 1961, making it one of Barolo's first true cru offerings. Aged in large Slovenian oak casks, its unadulterated charm and poise is matched by breathtaking power. Reverberating pressed rose petal, strawberry blossom and raspberry move into deeper, darker forest and iodine nuances, wrapped up in a commanding grip.
-
James Suckling
Aromas of blueberries, lavender and mint. Full body, a tight center palate and beautiful fruit. A wine that shows density and subtlety. Very tannic and structured. The real deal. Better in 2020.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Barolo Rocche di Castiglione (once simply named Rocche) is a richly endowed expression of Nebbiolo. The wine boasts dense fiber and texture with exquisite aromas of dark fruit and spice. The wine is not obvious in any way, and it offers new sides and aromas each time you return to the glass. Subtle tones of campfire ash, licorice and balsam herb are neatly woven within the broader bouquet. I tasted this wine from two separate bottles and was impressed by the near-term evolution of both. The wine shifted and changed beautifully as it sat in the glass for a mere 15 minutes.
-
Wine Spectator
A core of cherry is surrounded by beef bouillon, soy and tar notes, with serious tannins to boot. This red tips toward the dry side in the balance, showing a long, compact finish. Best from 2022 through 2040.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Still rather closed, this eventually reveals red berry, menthol espresso and culinary-spice aromas. The tightly wound palate offers sour cherry, sage, white pepper and star anise alongside a backbone of firm close-grained tannins that grip the finish.
Located in the heart of the Langhe hills, at the top of the village of Castiglione Falletto, the Vietti wine cellar was founded in the late 1800's by Carlo Vietti. The estate has gradually grown over the course of time, and today the vineyards include some of the most highly prized terroirs within the Barolo and Barbaresco winegrowing areaS.
Although they have been making wine for four generations, the turning point came in the 1960's when Luciana Vietti married winemaker and art connoisseur Alfredo Currado, whose intuitions - from the production of one of the first Barolo crus (Rocche di Castiglione - 1961), through the single-varietal vinification of Arneis (1967) to the invention of Artist Labels (1974) - made him both symbol and architect of some of the most significant revolutions of the time.
Alfredo’s intellectual, professional, and prospective legacy was taken up by Luca Currado Vietti (Luciana and Alfredo’s son) and his wife Elena, who contributed greatly to the success of the Vietti brand before their departure in 2023. In 2016 the historic winery was acquired by Krause family. Over the last seven year, they have added a number of prized crus to the estate’s holdings. In 2022 the winery was named Winery of the Year by Antonio Galloni of Vinous.
Vietti is universally recognized today as being one of the very finest Italian wine labels - by continuing along the path of the pursuit of quality, considered experimentation and working for expansion and consolidation internationally.
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.