Never let your Barolo know your next move. If it knows it’s in danger of being opened, it’ll muster up tannins like you wouldn’t believe.
If you’ve ever opened a bottle of one of the Barolo icons from the 1960s – say, 1964 or 1967 – you may have been amazed (as I have been) at how fresh and complete the wines seem. Almost ageless. Timeless. Eternal. While I, sadly, wasn’t drinking wine in the 70s and 80s when the vast majority of the 60s Barolos were being opened and consumed, I can imagine they had to be quite angular, packed with astringent tannins for their journey into the future, like the bag of an extreme through-hiker stuffed full of those abominable freeze-dried rations.
In other words, not exactly fun to drink.
But the best producers made wines that have survived (dare I say thrived?) into the current moment. It only took sixty years! In light of the Barolos of the 60s (and in spite of the pendulum swing against new oak usage among the current sommelier set) it isn’t any wonder that the mavericks of the 1970s sought more immediate enjoyment from their wines, and looked toward the success of Burgundy, adopting the barrique as their savior. But it was more than the barrique. Rotary fermenters and an obsession with physiological ripeness in the vineyard (which in practice meant green harvesting at a level that seemed psychotic to the previous generation) also played a huge part in the concentrated, rich, yet softened version of Barolo that emerged and thrived through the 80s and 90s.
These were the two warring styles of Barolo. There is a common refrain among wine merchants and critics (who only coincidentally have wares to flog) that modern winemaking techniques have eliminated the forced choice between these two styles. Now that we’re living in the future, wines can be charming upon release and still age beautifully for decades. Irrespective of any bridges I have for sale for those that accept this conclusion, certain realities should be accepted. It is certainly true that farming in Barolo has never been better, and that the evenness, purity, and ripeness (not over-ripeness, as the term has come to be used in the wine press) of the grapes entering the famous houses is of the highest quality in recent memory. It is also true that for many producers, even some top producers, the winemaking style has settled somewhere in the middle of the “Barolo Wars”. Large, old oak barrels are smaller in volume than they once were, barriques have less heavy toasts on their interior, and balance seems to be the order of the day.
While this is not the age of unicorn Barolo that will delight equally upon release and on one’s death bed, it may be the golden age of Barolo buying. Prices have largely stagnated while Burgundy has ballooned, and the range of styles available has never been wider. That’s where we come in! As with any wine region, producer is paramount. Rather than a simple list of producers with stylistic notes, we’ve grouped our favorites into three categories: The Good (middle-grounders for whom compromise is a boon), The Novel (each bringing something new to the game), and The Eternal (traditionalists whose wines may be ever-so-slightly more approachable in youth than in past decades, but still need long years of cellar time to show their best).
The Good
Vietti – Castiglione Falletto, where Carlo Vietti founded this winery in the late 1800s, has some of the most complex and varied soils in all of Barolo. It is appropriate, then, that Vietti has focused on single-site wines since the 1950s and that the current custodians use wildly varying approaches to make the sites sing in the cellar. They maintain that the Barolo Lazzarito yearns for stainless steel fermentation and barrique aging, while the Barolo Rocche calls for a long, slow, open-vat fermentation and 31-month sleep in Slavonian oak botti. Their magnum opus, Barolo Riserva Villero, uses a combination of both modern and traditional techniques. All the wines are pure, bursting with aromatic intensity, and offer medium-term cellaring opportunities.
Oddero – Embracing both traditionalism and modernism in the hilltop town of La Morra, Oddero is now in the 6th generation as a family-run winery. Like Vietti, they employ different fermentation and aging techniques depending on the site in question. The rack-and-return fermentation and Austrian oak aging of the Riserva Vignarionda (a hilltop site in Serralunga d’Alba) make a wine that is powerful and long-lived, while the 20L French oak vessels used for the Brunate (from their native La Morra) create a more aromatically seductive wine with soft, persistent tannins.
Aldo Conterno – The son of the legendary Giacomo Conterno struck out on his own in 1969, looking to craft his own style beyond the looming shadow of his father’s ultra-traditionalist classics. Moderation in all things is the calling card of this estate, employing neither the long, tannin-inducing macerations of the traditionalists, nor the new oak barriques of the modernists. The results are remarkable: polished Barolos that balance depth and approachability. The top wine is undoubtedly Barolo Riserva Granbussia, a blend of the three Bussia blocks only made in top vintages.
The Novel
Comm. G.B. Burlotto – It is strange, perhaps, to claim as novel the first house ever to sell Barolo in bottles (rather than out of cask or in demi john), but in the modern commercial landscape of Barolo the town of Verduno is all but forgotten. Burlotto works almost exclusively in Verduno, where the Nebbiolo of the iconic Monvigliero vineyard is made into a stunningly aromatic wine. They have also done much to raise the fortunes of the Pelaverga grape, a spicy staple of Verduno which is all but extinct outside of it.
Roberto Voerzio – This divisive Barolo legend makes decidedly modern wines, but is just as defined by his approach in the vineyards. All 20 ha are farmed organically, of course, but it is the yields that set Voerzio apart. Apparently, the extreme green harvesting of the original modernists didn’t go far enough. Voerzio restricts his Nebbiolo yields to miniscule proportions, making wines of spectacular concentration. New oak is almost always a prominent feature of these showy Barolos, which will likely show best in middle age. Most of Voerzio’s top wines are single site wines from the village of La Morra, with Brunate and Fossati leading the way.
E. Pira – Though this winery still bears the name of its founding family, it was sold upon Luigi Pira’s death to the Boschis family, and has been run by Chiara Boschis since 1990. Chiara represents the completion of the modernists’ goal, crafting lush, concentrated Barolos that show their stuff almost immediately upon release, more akin to aromatic Burgundy than classicist Barolo. The production is small, with a mere 2.5 ha of vineyards in the village of Barolo. Her Cannubi and Mosconi define the estate’s sleek and approachable style. In a region long dominated by larger-than-life male winemakers, Boschis represents a new and welcome turn towards diversity.
The Eternal
Bartolo Mascarello – Bartolo was a staunch traditionalist, and his daughter Maria Teresa continues in her father’s footsteps at this small estate today. In addition to long fermentations and aging in huge, old, mostly chestnut barrels, Bartolo eschewed the bottling of single-cru Barolos, a tradition that continues at Mascarello to this day. A single Barolo is bottled from four spectacular vineyards in Barolo and La Morra. Bartolo branded himself one of the “last Mohicans of the old guard”, and though some of the new generation’s winemakers have returned to his style, the Bartolo Mascarello wines are perhaps the most iconic benchmark of the classic style of the region.
Giacomo Conterno – Speaking of icons, Giacomo Conterno’s Monfortino is undoubtedly the holy grail of Barolo collecting. Bottled since 1920, this top wine was a blend of purchased fruit until the purchase of the Francia vineyard in 1974. It was then a single-site wine until 2015, after which it took on its current shape, a blend of Francia, Cerretta, and Arione, the three iconic vineyards of this great estate. In addition to Monfortino, Conterno’s Barolo Cascina Francia is well worth seeking out. Nearly ageless in the cellar, Giacomo Conterno’s Barolos are some of the most sought-after red wines in the world.
Giuseppe Rinaldi – Another long line of staunch traditionalists shepherded this great estate towards its current epoch. Manual punchdowns and long macerations make the Rinaldi wines tough and tannic upon release, unwinding slowly over decades in the cellar. Prior to 2010 you will find their Brunate-Le Coste and Cannubi San Lorenzo-Ravera bottlings, both of which were forced to change their names with the Consorzio legislation that prevented listing multiple single vineyards on the front label. These days Brunate leads the way (still containing up to 15% Le Coste fruit) and a new Bussia bottling has been released since the 2019 vintage.
The Right Time to Drink
I’m often asked about drinking windows, and few are more difficult to estimate than those of the top Barolos (not least due to the wide range of styles outlined above). But a few clicks of the links will show you a bounty of vintages available on Grand Cru Direct, from 1961 Monfortino onward, which presents the modern cellar master with an incredible opportunity to discover the most important element of any useful drinking window: one’s own taste. So pick up some ’61 Monfortino, some ’71 Paolo Scavino, some ’96 Burlotto Monvigliero, some ’01 E. Pira from Chiara Boschis, and some ’10 Bartolo Mascarello. Open them all, and see what level of development you prefer. Oh, and most importantly, don’t forget to invite me to join.