Aldo Conterno Romirasco Barolo 2011
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Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
A magnificent statement on how great Nebbiolo can be, the rich, yet stately 2011 Aldo Conterno Barolo Romirasco shows regal and intricate complexities. Medium garnet, red color; strong and complex aromas of red fruit mineral and dried spices; medium bodied, firm and well built on the palate; dry, medium acidity, well balanced; bold red and black fruit flavors with a streak of mineral and chalk; long finish, youthful yet enticing already in the aftertaste. Beginning to drink nicely. (Tasted: November 2, 2015, San Francisco, CA)
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James Suckling
Fabulous intensity and depth of fruit here with plum, spice and hints of vanilla. Full and savory with a long, long finish. Extremely rich too. A great wine from a great vineyard. Better in 2018.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Dark garnet in appearance, the 2011 Barolo Bussia Romirasco is an exceptional wine with enormous energy and vigor that comes from deep within its core. It delivers a sense of intensity, clarity and momentum that is rare to find in this warm vintage. It is also a highly complex expression that shows a slow but very interesting evolution in the glass with dark fruit aromas that are fused seamlessly with spice, tarry resin and blue flower. This is a wine with big bones that moves with incredible grace and poise. I would recommend holding the bottle for at least five more years.
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Wine Enthusiast
Combining power and finesse, this superb Barolo has subtle aromas of ripe berry, anise, leather and menthol. The taut, full-bodied palate is still young, showing rich black cherry, white pepper, clove, chopped herb and licorice alongside youthfully bracing tannins that need time to unwind. Drink 2019–2936.
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Wine Spectator
This is rich and expressive, with notes of vanilla and spice shading cherry, leather and tobacco flavors. Still, there is backbone and grip on the finish, with a lingering aftertaste of sweet fruit, menthol and spice. Best from 2019 through 2033.
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The story of Poderi Aldo Conterno, one of the elite, historic Barolo producers, is a tale of great passion for winemaking that winds back across generations and crosses international borders. While the Langhe Rosso, Chardonnay “Bussiador”, Barbera d’Alba “Conca Tre Pile” and Nebbiolo “Favot” represent a nod to modern winemaking techniques, the Barolo wines remain firmly in the traditionalist camp, aged in large Slavonian-oak botte before bottling. Only indigenous yeasts and traditional fermenting techniques are used. These are clean, polished and ethereal wines of great elegance that are guaranteed to offer years of sublime drinking while being terrific collector’s items.
Over the past decade, the estate has worked hard to ensure their place among the pantheon of hallowed Barolo producers, decreasing production by well over 50% through extreme triage in the vineyards: their harvest teams threatened mutiny at first over bunches that would normally have been harvested but that Conterno knew would be better to cut early to favor optimal development in the remaining bunches. The results of this rigorous approach have already been noticed and highly praised by the international press. The wines are remarkably approachable, characterized by particularly sweet fruit in their youth, as well as spice and vanilla notes. These are clean, polished and ethereal wines of great elegance that are guaranteed to offer years of sublime drinking while being terrific collector’s items. lity.
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.