Winemaker Notes
With a ruby-red color, the Barolo has a rich, elegant and subtle bouquet which gradually recalls the scents of violets, plums and cherries; the spices cinnamon, pepper and licorice, as well as tobacco and white truffle. It has a dry and well-balanced flavor: thick at first with a dense and velvet consistency, then elegant, harmonic and in the end lingering. Bearing up well against ageing, the Barolo begins to open out around the fourth year and comes into
its own around the eighth - tenth year.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A rich, round-textured red with cherry, bitter-lemon, smoke and cedar character. It’s full-bodied, juicy and flavorful. Drink after 2022.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This wine represents a blend of fruit from four villages: Monforte d'Alba (the San Giovanni vineyard); La Morra (Berri and Boiolo); Verduno (Castagni); and Novello (Cerviano Merli and Sottocastello di Novello). The Virna 2016 Barolo Noi is a dark and expressive wine with an exuberant level of fruit. This blended Barolo is plush and round, or vitally void of the tannic astringency you see in some of its peers. A 20,000-bottle release, this is the quintessential medium-term Barolo to enjoy with grilled pork or lamb chops.
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Wine & Spirits
Virna Borgogno makes this wine with fruit from La Morra, Novello and Monforte d’Alba. Its dark cherry flavors are woven with notes of black tea, tobacco and licorice, the finish brightened by a twist of orange peel. Balanced and fresh, it would be an excellent choice for by-the-glass programs.
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.