M. Marengo Barolo Bricco delle Viole 2018
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Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Ruby red with orange reflections, the Barolo Bricco delle Viole has a very fine, ethereal and rich nose with notes of liqueur cherry and sweet spices. On the palate, it is elegant, full-bodied, quite soft, fresh, balanced and sweet with well-integrated tannins.
Pairs well with grilled red meat and seasoned cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Barolo Bricco delle Viole (with 6,000 bottles made) opens to a medium rich appearance followed by very distinct aromas of wild rose, grilled herb, mint and freshly milled white pepper. The wine's texture is lean but fine-tuned and elegant. These qualities shape a long and polished mouthfeel. Fruit comes from a one-hectare parcel at a breezy 420 meters in elevation.
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Wine Spectator
Spicy, featuring black cherry, blackberry, violet, eucalyptus, iron and toasty oak aromas and flavors. Straddles the line between elegance and intensity, with firm, sinewy tannins guarding the finish.
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James Suckling
Medium-bodied with a good core of red fruit and lightly firm, nicely integrated tannins. Fluid palate.
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Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.
The center of the production of the world’s most exclusive and age-worthy red wines made from Nebbiolo, the Barolo wine region includes five core townships: La Morra, Monforte d’Alba, Serralunga d’Alba, Castiglione Falletto and the Barolo village itself, as well as a few outlying villages. The landscape of Barolo, characterized by prominent and castle-topped hills, is full of history and romance centered on the Nebbiolo grape. Its wines, with the signature “tar and roses” aromas, have a deceptively light garnet color but full presence on the palate and plenty of tannins and acidity. In a well-made Barolo wine, one can expect to find complexity and good evolution with notes of, for example, strawberry, cherry, plum, leather, truffle, anise, fresh and dried herbs, tobacco and violets.
There are two predominant soil types here, which distinguish Barolo from the lesser surrounding areas. Compact and fertile Tortonian sandy marls define the vineyards farthest west and at higher elevations. Typically the Barolo wines coming from this side, from La Morra and Barolo, can be approachable relatively early on in their evolution and represent the “feminine” side of Barolo, often closer in style to Barbaresco with elegant perfume and fresh fruit.
On the eastern side of the Barolo wine region, Helvetian soils of compressed sandstone and chalks are less fertile, producing wines with intense body, power and structured tannins. This more “masculine” style comes from Monforte d’Alba and Serralunga d’Alba. The township of Castiglione Falletto covers a spine with both soil types.
The best Barolo wines need 10-15 years before they are ready to drink, and can further age for several decades.