Barolo

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Vietti Vineyard, Barolo

Overview

To the south-west of Alba several long ridges heading roughly north to south make up the picturesque Barolo region. The countryside is amazingly picturesque with the . . . Read More >

Vietti Vineyard, Barolo

Overview

To the south-west of Alba several long ridges heading roughly north to south make up the picturesque Barolo region. The countryside is amazingly picturesque with the Alps a visually floating backdrop to stunning hilltop villages, and often steep hillsides covered in vines in all directions. Traditional Barolo was, and still is, often blended from vineyards from the eleven different villages across the region. But there is now greater focus on individual village blends and, at the top end, individual vineyards (since 2010 known as MGAs (Menzione Geograftica Aggiuntiva) or “crus”)

Barolo is comprised of eleven communes but the majority of the region falls within the five core communes of La Morra, Barolo, Monforte d’Alba, Serralunga d’Alba and Castiglione Falletto. Two major soil types are found in the region and are separated by the Alba-Barolo road which runs down the middle of the region, dividing Barolo and La Morra in the west from Castiglione Falletto, Monforte d’Alba and Serralunga d’Alba to the east.

The calcareous marls found in the western communes are said to often produce softer, fruitier, more aromatic wines, which mature quicker. Whereas the eastern communes have more compressed sandstone in the soils which is poorer and less fertile thus often producing more structured, austere and intense wines, which takes longer to mature. However, there are today many different expressions of individual communes and vineyards produced and the lines are more blurry.

Traditionally winemakers would seek to enhance the pronounced tannic profiles of the wines with extended macerations and ageing in old neutral oak casks, in an effort to produce very long lasting Barolos which could age for decades. A new generation of winemakers have taught themselves ways of taming and softening the legendary tannins, in order to produce wines of more fruit and fragrance, which would be equally impressive and pricey, but likely ready to drink a little sooner. But for the winemaking as well, today the lines are more blurred, with many producers adopting techniques from both traditional and modern camps depending on what best suits the fruit from a given current vintage from a given vineyard.