Long referred to as "the king of wines and the wine of kngs", Barolo has generally received positive reviews from the media.
Yet for many years, it has rarely been thought of on par with other iconic reds such as Grand Cru Burgundy, classed growth Bordeaux or Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Thankfully, today's critics are finally giving Barolo the respect it deserves, thanks in part to numerous recent notable vintages – the current releases from 2016 are garnering rave reviews – as well as the emergence of single-vineyard offerings that combine richness and cellaring potential with a distinct sense of place.
But with this newfound attention to Barolo from such in-demand sites as Cannubi, Brunate and Monvigliero (there are more than 160 of these recognized areas known as MGA in the production zone), it's easy to forget that, for about a century, Barolo was a wine that was all about blending fruit from various sites. Producers today refer to these wines as classic Barolos, with fruit sourced either from vineyards in one commune, such as Serralunga d'Alba or La Morra or in most instances, from several villages. The desire here was to create not only a harmonious wine, but also a highly complex one, crafting a wine that captured the stylistic qualities of various locales.
Today, there are more than 600 producers of Barolo, and most produce a classic Barolo, even if this wine is not as fashionable as one sourced solely from a famous vineyard. So an important question regarding the different offerings of Barolo is this – is a classic Barolo a lesser wine than a single vineyard version? Most producers, including Pio Boffa, proprietor of the historic Pio Cesare winery in the town of Alba, who produces a classic as well as single-vineyard Barolo, believe the answer is no. "We do not consider the vineyard Barolos, at least the ones we make, to be better tasting Barolo than the classic style," he states.
Cooking up a classic
Long known for his Ornato Barolo from the vineyard in Serralunga, and recently a Barolo from the Mosconi site in Monforte d'Alba, along with a classic Barolo, Boffa brings great insight into this discussion of Barolo styles. As with many Barolo estates, multiple generations have been involved in winemaking; Boffa explains the thinking of his grandfather, father and himself when crafting their classic Barolo.
"You have to have fruit from Serralunga, which gives you the structure and the intensity. You have to have some La Morra, which is giving you the finesse and elegance in the fruit. You've got to have a little bit of Cannubi or maybe a little bit of Monforte when you add some suppleness, and you have to build your style of a single vineyard as a chef is building the style of the dishes with different raw ingredients."
Boffa believes that marketing played an important role in the recent focus on single vineyard wines. "This is a concept that came in the last 30-40 years. Because the desire – and I’m not saying anything against my colleagues – but it was a desire of some of the new commerce in the '60s and '70s to catch the attention of the consumers and the press, the opinion makers, on names of producers who could not come up on the world scene, as they were unknown," he says.
"They could come up on the world scene by presenting a unique Barolo. Not too many people are making a Barolo Ornato, so if you make a Barolo Ornato, you catch the attention of the people with the name Ornato. You catch it on the name Barolo Ornato, and you are a different producer, and you make a different wine. So people can't associate you with Barolo generically, and they can only associate you with a similar wine from that vineyard. It's a marketing point and a selling point that was one of the reasons why the single vineyards became so famous and multiplied themselves astronomically. And that was the desire of getting some light."
At Vietti in Castiglione Falletto, Luca Currado certainly knows about single-vineyard Barolo, as his father Alfredo produced one of the first of these wines, from the Rocche vineyard (now referred to a Rocche di Castiglione) in the 1961 vintage.
"You have to think that in the 1960s, the story was much different than it is today. There were some big wineries, such as Fontanafredda, Pio Cesare and Marchesi di Barolo, wineries that still exist today, that had vineyards, but they were like a big negociant – they used to buy grapes and buy wine."
Playing both sides
Flash forward to current day Barolo, and Vietti is one of the major owners of several of the zone's most-heralded vineyards, including Brunate, Ravera, Lazzarito and Rocche di Castiglione, situated only a few meters from the winery. His bottlings of Barolo from these sites are highly sought after and sell out quickly almost every vintage, yet he is equally proud of his classic Barolo, labeled Castiglione, a blend of fruit from sites owned by the winery.
Currado understands the appeal of the single vineyard wines, but believes that his classic Castiglione Barolo is something of a reference point for him, a wine that consumers should focus on when first approaching Barolo. "I think if you start with Barolo Castiglione, you make your palate and you understand Barolo – it's a fantastic wine. Then maybe if you have time and you have a wallet, you can arrive to the cru Barolo," he says.
"One thing that is very important that people don't remember is that today some cru Barolo, like Burgundy, are very expensive, and not everybody can afford Rocche, Lazzarito, Monprivato, Monfortino. So for me what is very important is the regular Barolo, Castiglione, the classic." (Note that the Vietti Castiglione Barolo retails for around $45 in the US, while the winery's single-vineyard Barolo range from $110 to upwards of $200 per bottle.)
At the Paolo Scavino winery, also in Castiglione Falletto, Elisa Scavino, who along with her father Enrico and her sister Enrica, manage the estate, has grown up during this emphasis on single site Barolo; she enjoys these wines, but admits she has a soft spot in her heart for the classic examples. "The more that time goes on and as I get older, the more I appreciate the blends. It's not that one is better than another [blends versus single vineyard] but, for me, they're equally interesting and important. And in terms of blends, they can usually provide something very appealing."
Scavino relates the thinking behind their 2011 Barolo riserva that marked the 90th anniversary of the winery's founding. "The wine was a blend," she remarks, “because my father wanted to recall the tradition of blending Nebbiolo from different vineyards as it was done originally. It was an important blend because it assembled a majority of fruit from our most important vineyards such as Bric dël Fiasc, Rocche dell'Annunziata and so on."
One final point concerns whether the individual vineyards are more significant than Barolo itself.
"I think Barolo is more important," Currado proclaims, "because if you don’t understand that your classic Barolo is what makes you important and known, it's a disaster."
Currado notes the value of promoting classic Barolo at this moment. "One of the best things about the 2016 Barolo is the opportunity for a customer, a wine lover that doesn't have a huge wallet, is to enjoy first-rate Barolo because, with 2016, there are so many fantastic classic Barolo that are more affordable. So that is where the vintage will change the prospect of Barolo, because there are more people that can approach Barolo."
August 30, 2020 at 07:02AM
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Why We Still Need Classic Barolo - Wine-Searcher
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