Conterno Fantino Barolo Sori Ginestra (1.5L Magnum) 2012
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James
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Wine &
Spirits
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of ripe strawberry, violet, rose petal and sandalwood follow through a full body, round and very silky tannins and a long and linear finish. The tannin texture caresses for minutes. Better in 2020.
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Wine Spectator
Though dense and chewy, this features a core of sweet cherry, currant, licorice and tobacco flavors. The tannins are assertive, but all the elements are well-proportioned. Best from 2018 through 2030.
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Wine & Spirits
This wine’s floral scents and high-toned red fruit flavors feel rosy and lifted; they seem to have density without weight. Flavors of licorice and anise accent the cherry and plum fruit, with cool notes of menthol that direct the flavors in an upward arc. The ferrous tannins show some roundness and baking-spice notes from two years in French oak barriques, but the red fruit flavors feel vibrant and transparent, finishing with a clean sensation.
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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.