Our top 100 Barolo wines from 2018 to 2020

We have been professionally rating Barolos since the early 2000s and drinking them for a lot longer, and we can’t think of a better time than now to buy and drink the king of Italian wines. The dynamic duo of the 2016 and 2015 vintages have just arrived in the market and they deliver hundreds of great bottles. The superb 2015 vintage produced fantastically rich and fruity wines with a complement of ripe tannins thanks to a hot growing season, while the 2016 vintage may prove to be even better, with the same rich fruit but an additional structural dimension of tannins and acidity making these classic wines approachable now, but guaranteeing a long life in your cellar.

Check out our recent report on Piedmont that included more than 200 ratings of Barolos, not to mention Barbarescos, barberas, doclettos, and plenty of others:

PIEDMONT SHINES WITH RELEASES, ESPECIALLY BAROLO 2016

In view of this incredible opportunity to acquire so many great young Barolos, we’ve chosen 100 outstanding Barolos from JamesSuckling.com tastings over the last three years. As well as plenty of 2015s and 2016s to choose from, our list includes some late releases from the classic 2010 vintage, as well as a handful of wines from intervening vintages.

Anyone who has had the fortune to visit the Langhe area in Piedmont will know it’s a wonderland of micro-terroir that’s second to none in any wine-producing region worldwide with the exception of Burgundy and Germany. The Langhe is home to the nebbiolo vineyards that produce Barolo (as well as its neighboring sister appellation Barbaresco) and the wines in our list come from a variety of area’s villages, such as La Morra, Monforte d’Alba and Serralunga, each of which is home to vineyards whose names easily roll off the tongue of any serious Barolo fancier – Falletto, Brunate, Cannubi and many others.

Our Top 100 list of Barolos is peppered with the best. It’s hard to say we have a real favorite but it’s obvious that our palates side with some of the legendary producers including Bruno Giacosa, Giacomo Conterno, Roberto Vorezio, and Poderi Aldo Conterno. But there are so many great wines in this list from excellent producers and amazing vineyards.

 

Topping our list is the Giacomo Conterno Barolo Monfortino Riserva 2010 (100 points) and it’s clear from this wine, as well as others, that Roberto Conterno, current family owner and grandson of the founder Giacomo, is keeping the legend more than alive. In fact, he is a legend in his own right. This historic family winery, founded in the early years of the 20th century in the village of Monforte d’Alba, produced iconic wines in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and has continued to do so all the way through to the present. The Monfortino Riserva from the classic 2010 vintage is his best ever and a benchmark for the region. Our tasting note rightfully describes it as “endless pleasure. Will age forever”. This wine certainly contends as one of the greatest Barolos ever produced. 

The Bruno Giacosa Falletto Barolo Falletto Vigna Le Rocche Riserva 2016 (100 points) isn’t far off at No. 2. It’s another legend. Bruno Giacosa died in 2018, handing the winery over to his daughter, Bruna. He was famously a man of few words, but his wines have always spoken eloquently of Barolo and, in particular, his Falletto vineyard, located near the village of Serralunga d’Alba. This shows all the structure and balance that confirms the 2016 as a top vintage for Barolo. Bruno would have been proud of this, as well as the non-riserva version from 2015. (See below at wine No. 4.) Both are, for now, wines for your cellar but their amazing balance and harmony makes them gorgeous to drink young as well.

A Barolo from perhaps Italy’s greatest vine grower is at No. 3. The Roberto Voerzio Barolo Cerequio 2016 (100 points) comes from one of the most prestigious vineyards around the hill-top village of La Morra. Voerzio, who now works with his son Davide, has long been the focus of attention, because of his practice of cropping the grapes on his vines down to around 500 grams per plant, which is less than half the normal yield. He even goes on to manicure each single bunch, in order to achieve the best possible level of ripeness. This wonderfully constructed Barolo shows what it’s all about, offering fantastic ripe fruit that’s driven ultra-long by polished tannins. This is Voerzio at his best, in a vintage that perfectly suits his methods.

As mentioned above, our fourth wine is the Bruno Giacosa Falletto Barolo Vigna Le Rocche 2015 (100 points), as we return to the same vineyard as wine No. 2 in our list. Bruno Giacosa bought the 25-hectare Falletto vineyard in 1982, but he had been buying grapes from this vineyard for his Barolo production for many years previously. Conventional wisdom has it that nebbiolo from Serralunga shows more unyielding character compared to other areas of the Langhe, such as La Morra. But the hotter 2015 vintage gifted this wine with consummate elegance and exquisite aromatic character, earning it our maximum score.

In fifth place is Roberto Voerzio Barolo La Serra 2015 (100 points), a powerful Barolo from Voerzio’s plot in the renowned La Serra vineyard, located on the slopes below La Morra. La Serra is often the most concentrated of Voerzio’s range of Barolos and in 2015 it’s all about richness and opulence, reflecting both the character of the vintage and Voerzio’s short-cropping vineyard methods. Yet, there’s excellent structure and tannin power propping up the exotic fruit character and this will need some time in the cellar to show its best.

Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Gran Bussia Riserva 2010 (99 points) comes in at No. 6, yet again an iconic wine from another legendary figure in the Langhe, Aldo Conterno, who died in 2012, handing the reins to his sons Franco, Giacomo and Stefano. This is from the Bussia vine-growing area near the town of Monforte d’Alba and is a blend of grapes from the oldest nebbiolo vines in the Romirasco (70%), Cicala (15%) and Colonnelo (15%) vineyards and is made only in the best years. Aged in oak casks and then held in bottle in the winery, this is then released after nine years. It shows spectacular Barolo fruit and floral character, together with great polish and length.

Our seventh-placed wine, Domenico Clerico Barolo Percristina 2010 (99 points) comes from the Mosconi vineyard, just northeast of the town of Monforte d’Alba. “Per Cristina” means “For Cristina” and was labelled in honor of Clerico’s daughter who died tragically in her youth. The great Domenico has gone now, too, and today the winery is run by his wife, Giuliana. This is a rare, late-released Barolo Percristina (only 2,000 bottles), held in the winery cellar since production. You might want to hold it for a few more years in your own cellar but it’s sensational to drink.

 

Our eighth wine is the golden-label Parusso Barolo Bussia Riserva 2011 (99 points) and it comes from Bussia, another prestigious nebbiolo-production area, located in the commune of Monforte d’Alba. Marco Parusso makes this riserva only in the best vintages and releases it after two years in barrel and lengthy bottle-aging. From a rich and ripe vintage, this is released now, ready to be drunk. But it will hold for a few years to come.

Wine No. 9, Pira (Chiara Boschis) Barolo Cannubi 2015 (99 points) comes from one of the finest and most historic nebbiolo vineyards in the Langhe. The 15-hectare Cannubi vineyard, on the lower slopes that run from the town of Barolo is shared by up to two dozen producers (depending on how the extent of the Cannubi vineyard is viewed – see our documentary on Cannubi here). One of the protagonists of the Cannubi experience is Chiara Boschis, who took over the Pira winery in 1980, working at first with her parents, but then becoming by the end of that decade one of the figures that drove Barolo to achieve the recognition it enjoys today.

The final wine in our Top 10 is the Damilano Barolo Cannubi Riserva 1752 2010 (99 points), and we remain in the Cannubi vineyard for this incredibly complex and refined Barolo riserva. The “1752” is a reference to the first vintage in which “Cannubi” appeared on a label, even before the word “Barolo”! The Damilano winery itself is very much part of the history of the Langhe, founded in 1890 and today run by the dynamic Paolo Damilano. They are the biggest owners today of the original plots of Cannubi. This is a top, late-release, limited production Barolo described by James as “The spirit of Cannubi”. What better accolade?

Please remember that the list below is only a selection of our top rated Barolos for the last three years. We have rated more than 1,350 Barolos in total and drunk hundreds of other bottles.

Most of the vintages were 2014, 2015 and 2016. Yet, there’s also many late released wines like our No. 1 wine, the Giacomo Conterno Barolo Monfortino Riserva 2010, Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Gran Bussia Riserva, and Domenico Clerico Barolo Percristina. We are spoiled for choice. Whatever the bottle, they are all wonderful reminders of how great Barolos are!

– James Suckling, editor; and Jo Cooke, contributing editor