“Why is Barolo so expensive!” I remember asking a savvy clerk in my local wine store, fresh from my first class in Italian wines. As an exuberant young student I had been eager to taste the regions I studied, yet the upper-market wines from Piedmont seemed totally out of reach. Even the new vintages were over forty dollars.

Of course, I listened as the clerk explained these were complex, well-crafted wines made solely from the Nebbiolo grape are intended to age for decades, and then explained how he was “old school” in his taste for classic, traditional Barolos which often means the producers let the grape must ferment in large format chestnut barrels, sometimes for two months or more (traditional fermentation is closer to 10 days to three weeks). The result of these wines are long-lived, powerful wines high in acidity and tannins from extended skin contact.

In the 1980s, the so-called “modern style” producers wanted to create a new style that would be faster to produce and would suit the current international palate. This meant shorter skin contact, temperature controlled fermentation, and shorter aging in French barriques with new oak. DOCG law mandates that the minimum aging required for Barolo is two years in barrel and one in bottle. Barolo Riserva must be aged for five years.

The Grape

Nebbiolo is a thin-skinned, late ripening varietal that is capable of high potential alcohol that can balance its natural high acidity and tannic structure. It rarely grows well outside Italy, especially Piedmont, and is sensitive to soil and climate. It needs sun to ripen fully, yet hot conditions ruin its aroma. Afternoon fog during harvest shields the grape, and combined with the clay and limestone soils of the Langhe and Monferrato Hills, creates the perfect growing environment.

The Region

The Barolo DOCG is divided into five communes with two distinct soil types. Wines from the western communes of La Morra and Barolo are dominated by younger, magnesium rich Tortonian soil and serve to create a lighter wine.

Wines from older, iron-rich Helvetian soils of the eastern communes (Monforte d’Alba, Castiglione Falletto, Serralunga d’Alba) are known for their power and longevity.

Tasting Barolo

At various tastings I’ve found Barolo to be an extremely powerful wine, often characterized by cherry fruit, sometimes chocolate, often a savory element, leather, tar, spice, roses – even in some cases something akin to sawdust! Overall, there is great depth and complexity and concentration of fruit and other flavors. Curiously, many of these wines are so powerful even 2001 come across as being too young to drink.

At a recent tasting of very young Barolos, I identified wines I liked yet have at least a decade to evolve but they are named below.

Favorites

2005 Barolo DOCG Einaudi
2004 Barolo Serralunga DOCG, Massolino
2005 Barolo Gallinotto DOCG, Mauro  Molino
2003 Barolo Margheria DOCG, Pira
2004 Barolo DOCG, Prunotto
2004 Barolo Cannubbio DOCG, Francesco Rinaldi
2001 Barolo Cannubi Boschis DOCG, Sandrone
2001 Barolo Le Vigne DOCG, Sandrone
2005 Barolo La Villa DOCG, Seghesio
2003 Barolo Riserva Bricco delle Viole DOCG, Viberti