Giacosa Fratelli Barolo Scarrone Vigna al Mandorlo 2012
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Suckling
James
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Winemaker Notes
Giacosa Fratelli Barolo Scarrone Vigna al Mandorlo is ruby red, then it changes, with age, to garnet red. The notes are ample and persistent, flowery with hints of rose, complex even up to leather and tar. Dry, full-bodied, well proportioned, and even velvety.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Pretty floral and coffee character with plenty of berry and hazelnut skin character. Full body, round tannins and a flavorful finish. Drink now or hold.
Giacosa Fratelli is located in Neive, just a few miles from Alba, in southern Piedmont. The winery was founded by Giuseppe Giacosa, who gave up the traditional work in the fields (his father was a sharecropper) to become a merchant, initially of grapes and later of wine.
After WWII, Giuseppe's son Leone expanded the business started by his father, devoting all his time to improving the vinification and aging techniques of Alba's typical wines: Barbera and Dolcetto. Those years of difficult and intense work laid the foundation for the future of the winery's activity.
In the 1990’s, Valerio’s son Maurizio and Renzo’s son Paolo took over the helm of the business and set their sights on increasing the vineyards owned in areas where the noblest wines of the Langhe region are produced. A fine family tradition, therefore, continued by Maurizio’s sons Alessandro and Mauro, and Paolo’s children Lorenzo and Anna.
Generation after generation, those at the helm of the business had two very clear reference points: naturalness and quality, leading principles at the basis of the company’s philosophy, found at every transformation stage of the grape, from the vineyard to the winecellar.
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.