5 Great BAROLO Wines You Must Try (While They Are Still Affordable)

Hi everybody, this is Agnes from No Sediment and today we're going to talk about five great Barolo wines you should try while they are still relatively affordable. My favorite red grape variety is Nebbiolo. It is native to Piemonte wine region in Italy and is responsible for such famous wines as Barolo and Barbaresco. If you want to jump directly to those five wines, just skip this chapter. But if you want to know why you really should pay more attention to Barolo wines, keep watching. I started to like these wines more than 10 years ago and when I first visited Piemonte region, I fell in love with these wines even more. So I started to go back there once a year, every time packing a bunch of wines to take with me home. And this is the interesting part. Back then they were already expensive wines, especially for my salary, but I could afford them. But now I have realized that I can no longer afford to buy a case of Barolo wines from top producer. In fact, I can no longer afford a single bottle of a top cuvee from these producers. That's right, I'm not the only one who has fallen in love with Barolo wines. The increased interest and demand for these wines and recognized high quality has done its job. And for such a small region that is Barolo, it also meant significant increase in prices. But there are still few gems available for relatively affordable price. So let's take a look at five of them. I have quite a history with this winery. In fact, thanks to Rivetto, I fell in love with Barolo wines and Nebbiolo grape variety. Therefore, I simply must start with this winery. It is owned by a very charismatic person, Enrico Rivetto. His winery is located in a picturesque place overlooking Serralunga di Alba village. Wines from this area are usually characterized as being well-structured, age-worthy and quite powerful. While I agree that Rivetto wines are all of those things, they are also quite elegant, precise and focused. Notwithstanding the fact that Rivetto has received the Best in Show award by the Cantor for Leon Riserva, his wines are still very affordable. Lastly, which is especially important nowadays, Rivetto is first and to my knowledge still the only winery in Barolo to have completely converted to biodynamic viticulture and winemaking. Domenico Clerico from Monforte di Alba. With innovative and dare I say modern look at winery operations, Domenico Clerico has long been in my heart. You can find online many articles about this visionary winemaker. The story behind this man and his wines is the reason why I decided to visit this winery several years ago. In terms of hospitality, it was one of the sweetest tastings I have ever had. Their wines are complex, dense and highly concentrated and of course they can age. And what is even better, their single crew wines such as Pagliana are still available in two-digit price tag. One of Domenico Clerico's top Barolos, Per Cristina, is named after his daughter Cristina, who they lost at a very young age. Unfortunately, Domenico Clerico himself is not with us anymore, but his courage and story can still be found in his wines. Aldo Conterno, another winery from Monforte di Alba, has always been towards more expensive category for me. So unfortunately, not a lot of their bottles in my cellar. Not that long ago, I opened 2007 Barolo from totally different producer and it was tired. I opened another bottle from the same producer and it was also tired. Mind you, this was supposed to be top Cuvée from their portfolio. Therefore, I decided to do an inventory of my wines and set aside 2007-2008 vintage Barolos and older with thought in my mind to drink them soon. Amongst those wines was Aldo Conterno Village Barolo. And guess what? That wine showed almost no indication of age. It was extremely fresh and rich with lots of ripe mouth-coating tannins. I wish I had more bottles of that beautiful wine in my cellar. To those who say modernists make wine more approachable in their youth, I say so what if they can age so gracefully? Yeti from Castiglione Faletto is known to be one of the pioneers to make single vineyard Cru Barolo wines. Nowadays, they make several single Cru Barolos and masterfully represent the differences of terroir within Barolo. I must be honest though, their single Cru Barolos are difficult to acquire even if you are willing to pay three-digit number for a single bottle. However, their Castiglione Barolo is still a great bargain. This wine is beautifully perfumed, elegant and well-structured. Everything you wish Barolo to be and more. And one more thing, their Lange Nebbiolo is gorgeous and great quality performer, given the fact that impressive amount of grapes are sourced from Barolo vineyards for this wine. Last but not least, another great winery from Serralunga di Alba, Pira. It used to sell their grapes off to other wineries, but when they started to make their own wine, they quickly gained recognition and high scores from wine critics. I myself first noted Pira in They stood out and I wanted to buy a few bottles for my cellar. It was just a couple of years ago, so I was preparing myself for quite a bill. When I realized how affordable for Barolo wines they were, I was pleasantly surprised and they immediately tasted even better. Pira Barolo is quite classical, full-bodied but elegant wine with mix of alluring aromas that Nebbiolo so frequently offers. Of course, these are not the only affordable Barolo wines, but these are some of my favorite ones. If you have tried any of these wines, please let me know if you like them or if you have other suggestions that I should pick up, let me know. If, however, you want to know a bit more about Barolo wines in general, make sure to watch my other video, which I made directly in the vineyards of Barolo, here.