Barolo 2021

Serradenari is the highest Barolo vineyard, majestically situated above La Morra at around 520 metres. The limestone-rich marl sea, interspersed with tuff and clay subsoil, provides an expressiveness that is both peculiarly clear and exciting at the same time. Giulia Negri works this parcel with an almost Burgundian focus: close to nature, spontaneous fermentation and careful ageing – 30 months in generous tonneaux, leaving the structure intact with minimal intervention. The 2021 vintage, sophisticated and elegant, fascinates with its cool, precise fruit – fresh and vibrant, matured over cool nights, this Nebbiolo is clear yet deep.

Rocche di Castiglione is prized for its pure white, chalky soils, which produce wines of exceptional finesse and a wide range of flavours. For lovers of timeless Nebbiolo, it is a real hit. The vines are located not far from the winery, which blends into the stone walls and urban fabric of the village of Castiglione Falletto. The vineyard is about one hectare in size. Rocche di Castiglione is a curiously shaped and elongated MGA with a unique south-east exposure along a steep ravine, with Bussia to the west and Perno to the east. This site is characterised by freshness, extreme precision, straightforwardness, structure and balanced freshness.

Ravera, located in the municipality of Novello, is one of the best Barolo vineyards that continues to surprise and impress despite the changing climate. Thanks to the high altitude and the open view of the snow-capped mountains, the microclimate is well ventilated but at the same time protected. Freshly cut flowers, white pepper and mint energise a wine that is now very shy and tightly wound. But it wouldn't be Ravera if pickled dark cherries, lavender, mint, crushed stones and sage weren't pouring out of the glass, creating a powerful, breathtaking Barolo endowed with great purity. A particularly stunning and breathtaking wine in the dream vintage of 2021. SUPERIORE.DE

Baroli from Serralunga d'Alba are often in a category of their own thanks to their richness and sheer abundance of fruit and simultaneous austerity. Initially restrained red fruit on the nose, dense and very concentrated on the palate. Lazzarito 2021 impresses with its powerful but ripe tannins, typical of Serralunga. This assertive and still very youthful wine is very long-lived and has an impressive drive on the impressively long finish. Let's give it the time it needs and it will delight us completely. SUPERIORE.DE

Vietti's Brunate parcels are located on the La Morra side of the cru site. It was fermented in stainless steel and then transferred directly to large oak barrels to mature. Vietti's Brunate 2021 shows blue flowers, wild berries, wild cherry and truffle-infused earth. It reveals a slender but open-knit quality that can be felt in the mouth. This softness or textural silkiness continues for many long minutes with hints of mint, liquorice and camphor ash carefully distributed along the way. The tannins are polished and long. Very elegant. SUPERIORE.DE

Around 60% of the grapes for the Monvigliero are not destemmed, which enhances the aromatic nuances of the wine. The utterly enchanting 2021 Monvigliero is delicate and supple with aromas of cherries, boysenberries, violets and spices, with an excellent balance and a lingering aftertaste that reflects the main flavour themes. SUPERIORE.DE

Barolo Cerequio comes from vines that are over 35 years old. The vineyards were acquired by Michele Chiarlo in the 2010s through fortunate circumstances. The 2021 vintage confirms once again that the purchase of this vineyard was one of the smartest decisions Vietti has ever made. Cerequio is a wine of nuance and class that reflects the entire pedigree of this great site. Crushed red berry fruit, cherry, blood orange, spice and mint rise from the glass, framed by nervy tannins that convey classicism. An exotic, racy Barolo. SUPERIORE.DE

Serralunga d'Alba is not a place for compromises. The soil here – calcareous marl soils, millions of years old, compacted and rich in minerals – forms Barolos with a structure and depth that simply cannot be found elsewhere. The MGA Cerretta is located on the south-eastern slope of the municipal area, at an altitude of 350 to 365 metres, in the zone that winegrowers and critics have appreciated for generations for its extraordinary combination of power and finesse. The Rosso family has been cultivating these vineyards since the 1890s – first Giovanni, then his son Davide, who took over responsibility in 2001 at the age of 27 and since then has made a single sentence the guiding principle of his work: Wine should be a perfect reflection of its terroir.

The Ravera vineyard on the Novello side, where steep hills descend from a castle perched on a beautiful panorama, is one of the best cru sites in the Barolo DOCG. From this vantage point, you can see Novello and the Elvio Cogno winery, which is located halfway up the slope. Valter Fissore's Ravera from the great 2021 vintage benefits from this special location and shows terrific versatility and depth every year.

In the easternmost tip of the Barolo zone, where the ancient Serravallian soils of Serralunga d'Alba force the vine roots deep into the earth, lies one of the most uncompromising MGA sites in all of Piedmont: Sorano – a name that inspires awe among Barolo connoisseurs and at the same time epitomises Matteo Ascheri's entire philosophy: To create wines that are only produced in exceptional vintages, when nature shows all its goodness. 2021 was such a year. After the tropically hot 2018, which filled the water reserves, and the equally warm 2019, 2021 created that perfect balance between power and elegance that only dream vintages can achieve. In Sorano, where the south-south-west exposure at an altitude of 280 to 350 metres brings out the Nebbiolo terroir in its purest form, 2021 produced grapes of exceptional concentration and aromatic complexity.

Serra is an often misunderstood location. Small, little known, sometimes underestimated by connoisseurs – because it has neither the full southern sun of a Cerretta nor the dramatic hillside location of a Vigna Rionda. Anyone who hears the MGA Serra in Serralunga for the first time thinks: quite nice. Anyone drinking the wine for the first time will think: wait a minute. The Rosso family's parcel is located around one kilometre south of the village centre, in the upper municipal area of Serralunga, with an eastern to south-eastern exposure. No midday light to overwhelm the grapes – instead, cool mornings, slow ripening, a precision in the tannin that only this orientation can produce. Davide Rosso describes it himself: The eastern exposure intensifies the fresh, austere character of these wines. And rightly so. Those who reduce Barolo to power and flavour will have no use for Serra. Those who reduce Barolo to origin and attitude will never forget it.

For over a hundred years, two communities fought over a hill. La Morra to the north, Barolo to the south – both wanted to own Cerequio, the amphitheatre of limestone marl and blue clay that the locals call the "Riviera of the Langhe". It was not until 1275 that an agreement settled the dispute; the document is still in the archives of La Morra. "Conteisa" – piedmontese for dispute – is the memory of this battle over a piece of land that was apparently already considered precious in the Middle Ages. When Angelo Gaja acquired six hectares in Cerequio in 1995, he returned to Barolo after decades of absence. The first vintage in 1996 was still labelled Langhe Nebbiolo – gaja's conscious decision against the rigid DOCG rules. Today, back in the Barolo aristocracy, Conteisa represents the elegant side of the house: feminine, floral, with silky finesse, where its brother Sperss from Serralunga trumps with masculine power. Sixty-year-old vines are rooted here at an altitude of 380 metres in a south-facing location. After being harvested by hand, the wine rests for twelve months in barriques and a further twelve in large oak barrels.

There are wines that define a family across generations, and there are those moments when a winemaker gives his life’s work a name that bridges the past and the future. When Luciano Sandrone decided in 2013 to rename his legendary Barolo Cannubi Boschis, he did not choose just any name, but created an acronym from the first names of his grandchildren: ALEssia and STEfano. ALESTE – a word that embodies experience, continuity and the hope that what he began in 1985 with the first bottle from Cannubi Boschis will live on in the hands of the next generation. Cannubi Boschis, the sub-parcel at the heart of Barolo’s legendary Cannubi vineyard, is the vineyard in which Luciano invested his entire savings in 1977 – directly opposite the winery, on a hill whose potential he recognised from the very first moment. Here, on optimal soils in a sheltered, sun-drenched location, Nebbiolo flourishes into that combination of power and finesse that has made Cannubi famous worldwide.

Sperss. The word sounds like a sigh, like a breath of melancholy wafting over the hills of Piedmont. In the local dialect, it means nostalgia, longing, homesickness for a time that will never return. When Angelo Gaja was finally able to acquire the twelve hectares in Serralunga d'Alba in 1988, which his father Giovanni had raved about since his youth, there was only one possible name for this wine. Sperss was the fulfilment of a family dream – the first Barolo from the Gaja family, the step out of Barbaresco into the legendary terrain that Giovanni had already learnt about as a young man during the grape harvest. The Marenca and Rivette vineyards form a natural amphitheatre at an altitude of 370 metres – compact, calcareous marl that gives the wine the mineral depth and iron structure for which Serralunga is famous. Here, where the over 50-year-old Nebbiolo vines drive their roots deep into the stony soil, the wine is not a pleasant one.

Roberto Voerzio has a clear idea of how this wine should be drunk. He produces the Torriglione exclusively in magnums – not because the production is too small for standard bottles, but because he wants it that way. His own reasoning: These wines are "made for warm celebrations with old friends and an infatuation with discovery." The Magnum is not a format, it is a programme. And the format is not without consequence: a magnum ages more slowly than a 0.Liters bottle because the ratio of surface area to wine volume is more favourable. The tertiary flavours develop more evenly, the fruit remains present for longer and the tannins have more time to interweave. Voerzio has thus given this wine a different future than all the other crus of the house.

The single vineyard Falletto in Serralunga d'Alba is one of the centrepieces of the Barolo region. On steep, south-facing slopes, whose marl and sandstone soils store heat and contribute minerality, Nebbiolo matures here into wines of great structure and depth. The 2021 vintage is considered one of the best of the last decade: a stable summer with cool nights and sunny days allowed for long, even ripening and produced grapes of rare balance.

At the very top of the Serradenari parcel, the fruit grows for an exceptional Barolo, with which the young winemaker Giulia Negri has truly created a monument to herself. Marassio clearly benefits from the cool climate of Piedmont's high altitudes and will therefore hardly change its character even if the climate continues to change.

The fruit for this top-class Barolo, which is exceptional not only because of its six different labels, comes from the MGA Baudana in Serralunga d'Alba, whose vines were planted in 1994. Aeroplan Servaj (little aeroplane) is the affectionate nickname that Domenico Clerico's father gave his young, free-spirited son. Exciting bouquet of wild cherry, candied orange peel, ploughed earth and rusty nails. There is a subtle sweetness in the primary fruit, but the wine is mainly defined by its very refined, rich and savoury side. As it progresses into an impressive finish, it offers impeccable balance and straightforwardness. SUPERIORE.DE

Ornato 2021 comes from the single vineyard of the same name in Serralunga d'Alba, exposed to the south – a cru with a distinctive altitude and calcareous soils that captures the depth and power of the Barolo region like no other. The 2021 vintage was characterised by a cool spring, a stable summer without extreme heat and a long, dry autumn. These conditions allowed the Nebbiolo to ripen slowly and evenly, giving the grapes aromatic complexity with full phenolic maturity. The wine was fermented traditionally after a long maceration period and then matured for around 30 months in French oak – partly in tonneau and partly in barrique.

La Morra is the softest, most flowery municipality in the Barolo region – that's not a cliché, it's geology. The limestone-rich, marl-like soils of this high altitude give the Nebbiolo a fineness of tannin and a floral aroma that is not found in the sandier sites of Serralunga or Castiglione Falletto. Roberto Voerzio has understood these characteristics better than almost anyone else – and has built up his entire business on La Morra since 1986. The Barolo del Comune di La Morra brings together four of his most important single vineyards in one wine: Cerequio, La Serra, Fossati and Case Nere. None of these parcels stands back – each brings its own character, its own texture, its own flavour. The assemblage is not created to hide imperfections, but to fully reveal the image of the commune. 12 months in tonneaux, then bottle ageing. Natural yeasts, no filtration, no intervention.

Serradenari is the highest Barolo vineyard, majestically situated above La Morra at around 520 metres. The limestone-rich marl sea, interspersed with tuff and clay subsoil, provides an expressiveness that is both peculiarly clear and exciting at the same time. Giulia Negri works this parcel with an almost Burgundian focus: close to nature, spontaneous fermentation and careful ageing – 30 months in generous tonneaux, leaving the structure intact with minimal intervention. The 2021 vintage, sophisticated and elegant, fascinates with its cool, precise fruit – fresh and vibrant, matured over cool nights, this Nebbiolo is clear yet deep.

There are moments in the life of a winemaker when past and present merge in a magical way. For Matteo Ascheri, Barolo Ascheri is such a moment – a wine that comes from the vineyard that not only bears his name, but is also the cradle of his family. It was here, in the Località Ascheri in La Morra, that the history of a winegrowing dynasty that is now one of the most respected in the whole of Piedmont began in the early 19th century. The MGA Ascheri is located on the gently sloping southern slopes of La Morra, at an altitude of 350 metres, where the fertile soils of clay, limestone marl and sand produce the exuberant fruitiness for which La Morra is famous. When Matteo vinified a separate Barolo from this two-hectare vineyard for the first time in 2010, it was more than just an oenological decision – it was a return to the roots, a tribute to the ancestors who once laid the foundations for the family heritage here.

On the steep slopes of Sorano, where the ancient Serravallian soils of Serralunga d'Alba unleash their full geological power, lies Matteo Ascheri's most precious secret: two tiny parcels that together produce no more than 2,800 bottles per vintage and yet embody the essence of what makes a great Barolo. Vigna Coste and Vigna Bricco – the slopes and the summit – are two faces of the same extraordinary medal, united in a wine that only sees the light of day in the very greatest years. Coste & Bricco is Matteo's ultimate homage to the diversity of the Sorano terroir. While Vigna Coste on the slopes delivers the minerality and structure for which Serralunga is famous, Vigna Bricco from the hilltop brings the concentration and aromatic intensity that only the most exposed sites can produce. This combination of two micro-terroirs within a single MGA creates a Barolo of exceptional complexity – a wine that combines both the power and finesse of Serralunga.

At the very top of the Serradenari parcel, the fruit grows for an exceptional Barolo, with which the young winemaker Giulia Negri has truly created a monument to herself. Marassio clearly benefits from the cool climate of Piedmont's high altitudes and will therefore hardly change its character even if the climate continues to change.