Ciabot Berton Barolo 2007
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Parker
Robert
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2007 Barolo is an attractive wine laced with crushed flowers, spices and sweet red berries, all of which come together nicely on a refined mid-weight frame. The vibrant, silky finish is quite pretty. This delicate, approachable Barolo is an excellent choice for drinking over the next few years.
In these years, to avoid being subjected to the decisions of dealers and merchants and their imposition of iniquitous prices, Luigi decided to create his own winery and produce the wine himself, aiming to optimise the value of his own work. The first years’ production of Barolo were bottled from 1961 onwards. The limited yield amounted to a few thousand bottles: part of the wine from the best cask became a reserve, whereas a part of the production was sold unbottled to the major producers of the area. As the years went by, more land was given over to the growing of vines, until the present-day 12 hectares were reached. This land includes not only the valuable vine-growing slopes purchased over the years, but also the vineyards inherited by his wife Maria Beatrice in the historic Roggeri cru.
The winery now in use was built in the 1980s on the site which has always been known as Ciabot Berton. The small building (ciabot, in Piedmont dialect) which stands here once belonged to a certain Berton, who had attempted to set up manufacturing fireworks here, and had burnt out the building and destroyed its roof. This old ruin, which gave its name to the business, can still be seen from the winery, and is surrounded by the Nebbiolo vineyard. The new winery is therefore sited in a dominant position, where it enjoys views of the wonderful landscape which opens out over the hills of Barolo. On clear days, gazing towards the north, the peaks of Cervino and the mass of Monte Rosa stand out, while in the opposite direction the villages of the Alta Langa form a hinge between Piedmont and Liguria.
From the 1990s, Luigi’s children Marco, an oenologist, and Paola, an agronomist, began working with him. Increasingly aware of the quality and full potential of the vineyards and their Nebbiolo grapes, they decided to vinify the grapes of the different vineyards separately, selecting the best batches of Barolo for bottling. In this way, by making a few important adjustments in production to add to Luigi’s great experience, the wines of Ciabot Berton have become steadily more widely known and appreciated.
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.