Italian Wine: Barolo DOCG

The king of Italian wines.

There’s so much to say about Italy, always. And about Italian wine.

Some parts of Italy are downright shocking, because people arrive with a false set of expectations. They expect the dream they have in their head to start at the airport, continue on to the car rental agency, and really come into focus on the road they take to get to their accommodations. Reality can be completely different, because the areas outside of most Italian cities are urban jungles of concrete and often unfinished, ugly architecture. Roads are poorly signed and can take you on a ridiculous trail that has nothing to do with your destination. There can be potholes the size of your car, as I’ve expressed before. And lately, much to my bank account’s dismay, Italy has invested in high tech speed traps that you don’t even notice until the ticket for hundreds arrives at your house.

That’s just not nice.

even the crooked signs and cracked walls are sexy.

But once you’ve left the rebar-exposed, concrete-hell construction sites behind, you are allowed to dream a little. Because the country starts to peel its layers just for you, slowly, gently, until you’re caught in its labyrinth of breathtaking beauty before you’ve even really fully noticed.

I know. I know. Right?

It gets me every single time. The air, the light, the profiles of the mountains, all of it. I lived in Italy long enough to know it ain’t all puppies and unicorns, but if you ask me, there is nothing, nothing like crossing the border into this country and experiencing how everything changes.

When we head towards home away from home, which for us is the Langhe Region of Piemonte, we are in love again.

Barolo

Barolo is the finest wine in the world. I might be biased, but I have yet to drink a wine that captures its native territory as beautifully as Barolo does.

I like to pretend it’s all mine

Barolo is a town that’s also a wine.

There’s a red grape called Nebbiolo, which is a difficult grape to grow well. It has very specific climate and sun exposure requirements. It’s a grape that’s high both in tannins and acid, and takes talent both in the vineyard and in the cellar to make it palatable.

There’s a whole lot that can be said about the process of making a good Nebbiolo wine, but I leave those details to my husband the sommelier.

Nebbiolo was historically vinified in the Langhe as a sweet wine with very low alcohol content, used for nutritional purposes at a time when the area was rife with extreme poverty and hunger.

Things have changed.

The last four decades have seen the Langhe become arguably the most important wine region in the world, and all of that success is down to the not-very-humble Nebbiolo grape. The international reputation of Barolo and Barbaresco (also made from the Nebbiolo grape; you can read my post about it here) are indisputable.

2.5 acres (a hectar) of Barolo vineyard will now set you back between 1.5 and 3 million Euro. You have to produce a lot of wine for a lot of years (and pray for no climate-related crises that can cause a drought or a landslide or any of the other dozen things that can cause a bad year) for the land to amortise.

Most winemakers are priced out of the Barolo vineyards. The ones that can afford to buy land are doing so for their grandchildren and great grandchildren. Winemakers are the most hopeful bunch of people I know.

There are areas that produce superior Nebbiolo wines, and the most famous of those areas is the Barolo region, which is comprised of eleven villages licensed to be able to label their best Nebbiolo wine as Barolo. The controls are rigid, from the age of the vines to the exact location of each row, from the harvesting practice to the vinification, aging and bottling process.

Do not get on the bad side of one of the 11 local and national agencies in Italy that can come and shut down your winery at any time because you’ve gotten lazy with the rules.

These eleven villages produce Barolo wines that, while they are all made from 100% Nebbiolo, each express themselves very differently in the glass, from the clay-rich soil of Serralunga d’Alba (generally big, austere Barolo wines that have incredible aging potential) to the calciferous lime of La Morra (wines of great elegance on the palate).

At the end of this post, I’ve listed all of the Barolo villages and the type of Barolo you can expect to find in each. Take the list to the wine store next time!

The color of Barolo changes as it ages. It starts out a relatively pure garnet and mellows towards a brick colour. A high end Barolo can easily age past 20 years without having hit its prime, while a mid-range Barolo is probably ready between 10-12 years into the aging process.

I’m a Serralunga fan, and if you put a glass of Massolino Vigna Rionda Barolo in front of me I won’t be mad. Vigna Rionda refers to the cru, or area, where the grapes come from. There are a few world class Barolo cru and Vigna Rionda is one of them. We’ve known the Massolino family for years. Their wines have never - ever - disappointed.

The view from Serralunga d’Alba over the Vigna Rionda cru towards Castiglione Falletto (another Barolo village). The modern building on the right in the distance is Angelo Gaja’s Barolo location. Gaja is Piemonte’s most famous Barbaresco producer.

There was a time when Barolo producers produced wines for the American palate, meaning you would get a mouthful of oak from the wine being aged in small barrique barrels. The trend has definitely (thank goodness) reverted to the classic version, with oak only serving to temper the most aggressive tannins. The Barolo wines created today are beautifully structured and aged in large barrels of 500 litres or more.

There is no world in which the 2016 Barolo vintage does not rock. This is from Fratelli Revello, a fabulous family winery in LaMorra.

I started my red wine journey with California Cabernet Sauvignon. I first drank the wine in my last year of university during a visit from a boyfriend in 1980. He brought a couple of bottles of cab with him. Oh, those jammy, oaky California reds - who can forget them! The boyfriend and those heavy wines disappeared, and I went on to graduate both from university and to the refined structure and well balanced tannins that make Italian wine - especially Nebbiolo - so special.

For a good Barolo, you can expect the cost to start around $40 and end wherever your heart desires. Much depends on whether the wine comes from a specific cru, or if it’s a compilation of several different areas of the winery’s vineyard.

At this point in life, Michael and I only drink a bottle of wine once a week, so you can bet that one bottle is going to be a good one. For us that’s Barolo or Barbaresco, especially in the cooler months.

Because my husband has had a wine company, Babarolo, since we moved from Italy back to Germany, we’ve have been fortunate enough to drink a vast amount of Nebbiolo wines. If you have any questions about a specific Barolo, Barbaresco or Nebbiolo wine, you can leave a comment and we’ll try to help you.

We tried to start a wine club in the USA, but our clients were hit with surcharges and tariffs that we can’t seem to get around - and now with the White House being occupied by a tariff junkie, we know things are not going to get easier for European Union exports to the USA.

However, we do sell throughout Europe, so if you’re on this side of the pond, you might find a few wines you’ll love on our online shop.

The 11 Barolo Villages:

1. Barolo – The namesake village, home to historic wineries and a balanced terroir. Wines here tend to be elegant, structured, and well-rounded, with both fruit and floral notes.

2. La Morra – Produces some of the most aromatic and approachable Barolos, known for their softer tannins, fresh red fruit, and floral elegance due to its higher elevation and calcium-rich soils.

3. Monforte d'Alba – One of the warmest and most structured Barolo zones, yielding wines that are deep, powerful, and long-lived, often with robust tannins and dark fruit flavors.

4. Serralunga d'Alba – Known for its clay and iron-rich soils, this village produces some of the most intense, tannic, and long-aging Barolos, with bold dark fruit, spice, and a firm structure.

5. Castiglione Falletto – A central village with a mix of terroirs, resulting in balanced wines that combine power and elegance, often displaying rich red fruit, spice, and floral notes.

6. Verduno – The northernmost village, producing some of the lightest and most perfumed Barolos, with delicate floral, red berry, and spicy notes. Home to the rare Pelaverga grape.

7. Novello – Known for more elegant, fruit-forward, and slightly softer Barolos, often with floral and mineral-driven characteristics due to its cooler climate and sandy soils.

8. Grinzane Cavour – A lesser-known but important village, producing structured yet approachable wines with good acidity and balance. Home to the historic Castle of Grinzane Cavour.

9. Diano d'Alba – Primarily known for Dolcetto, but also produces fresh, fruit-driven Barolos with soft tannins and good drinkability.

10. Roddi – A small village with limited Barolo production, but the wines tend to be refined, with bright fruit and a slightly softer style compared to the more powerful Barolos.

11. Cherasco – The least-known Barolo village, with very limited vineyard land. Barolos here are rare but typically display finesse, minerality, and bright acidity.

Have a great day!