Susan Hulme MW SH | Andrew JeffordAJ | Michael Palij MW MP


needs a little more ripeness and generosity on the palate, but the tannins are nicely managed, firm without being harsh. 2025–32. | 89 AJ | Deep, translucent garnet-red, with scarlet glints. Another impressive La Morra aroma, with inviting fruit sweetness rather than alien vanilla. There is a fat, savory warmth beneath which not everyone will like but which adds to the wine’s character for me. Some plant and earth essences, too: more aromatic layers than for many. On the palate, the wine has slightly more concentration than most of its peers, and a more adventurous and secondary style, described for the aromas. Good work for this slightly dilute vintage. 2025–33. | 90 MP | Obvious nose, showing baked fruit, including plum and cherry, supported by vanilla, cedar, coffee grounds, black cherry, and cooked plum. On the palate, the obvious oak tannins quickly scramble to the fore and suppress the riper notes in the wine. The warming alcohol and obvious fruit complete the picture. Drink this crowd-pleasing wine now and enjoy its obvious charms. 2025–30. | 90


Fontanafredda Barolo La Villa Paiagallo Barolo 2020 (15% ABV) | 90


SH | Complex, heady nose, with a touch of waxy polish, lavender, and sweet spice notes, but a little more rustic on the palate. The tannins are chunky and robust, and the acidity offers welcome refreshment, but unfortunately there is a lack of ripe fruit to balance these elements. 2025–30. | 87 AJ | Deep garnet but translucent and bright. Sweet fruits, well-rounded and balanced; softly harmonious and enticing. No great focus of aroma, but what is there draws the drinker into the glass. Lively, elegant, and shapely, with perhaps the best quality of 2020’s fruit: affable, likeable, moreish. Lovely soft tannins here, and the acidity, too, is soft, though both support well. Supremely drinkable. A totally uncomplicated glassful of delicious Barolo. 2025–35. | 90 MP | Very ripe, dark-fruit aromas, tinged with coffee and tar. The nose shows tobacco, licorice, raspberry jam, black cherry, tar, and oak notes of cedar and sandalwood. The palate is generously fruity, with red and black fruit allied to coffee, damp earth, dark chocolate, and vanilla. It lacks finesse and elegance, and the baked, cooked fruit dominates the finish. 2026–31. | 92


Manzone Barolo Gramolere Monforte d’Alba 2020 (14.5% ABV)


| 90


SH | Smoky, smouldering nose, with sweet oak and vanilla notes: a heavily oaked wine. Big, broad, and full-bodied, but with lovely, refreshing acidity. A powerful wine, but a little less about terroir? Well-made and charming, but more about winemaking, perhaps, than place. 2025–35. | 92 AJ | Bright, light garnet-red, right to the rim. Warm wood (though not sweet oak) and warm fruit, too, in attractive, soft-focus style; some vegetative notes, too. The flavors are very much those sketched out on the aromas: wood and fruit both meet in this wine, but successfully so, to subtle and convincing effect. Not notably


SH | Pretty initially, but slightly tired aromatics. There is a dullness to the aromas that ideally would not be there, and on the palate, the fruit feels the same, showing a lack of precision and attention to detail. A little dull to drink. I would love more energy and vitality to elevate this wine. 2024–28. | 88 AJ | Deep black-red, out to transparent at the rim; some depth of color here, as for its stablemate (GD Vajra Barolo Bricco delle Viole). The fruit tone is a little drier and sweeter here than for the plush yet fresh Barolo Bricco delle Viole; there are some perfumed notes here, too. But you have to look a little; its stablemate delivers a fuller fruit profile at this stage. On the palate, too, this is a little lighter and more


DRAWS THE DRINKER INTO THE GLASS. LIVELY, ELEGANT, AND SHAPELY, WITH PERHAPS THE BEST QUALITY OF 2020’S FRUIT: AFFABLE, LIKEABLE, MOREISH. DELICIOUS BAROLO


concentrated but very palatable. 2025–34. | 89 MP | Edgy and green, with a rather meager nose and obvious oak notes that detract from the wine’s balance. The palate is similarly short- changed, with an absence of fruit and very firm tannins. 2025–29. | 88


Luciano Sandrone Barolo Vite Talin Barolo 2018 (14.5% ABV)


| 90


SH | Dark ruby color, opaque. On the nose, there are fragrant notes associated with oak more than fruit: polish, lavender, spice. A little heavy on the palate, with dark, burned, licorice flavors and heavy oak. Heavily extracted wine with a heavy handed style unfortunately masking identity. 2025–35. | 89 AJ | This dark, densely colored wine from 2018 seems to have a little more saturation than its 2020 stablemate (Luciano Sandrone Barolo Aleste). The extra two years in bottle have brought harmony but the style is a sweet one, with new oak still palpable. Dense and full, ripe, mellowing out well, despite what must have been quite a forceful style to begin with. Anyway, just a point of comparison for this tasting. 2025–33. | 88 MP | A huge amount of oak on display on the nose, with vanilla, sweet spice, licorice, cedar, vanilla, and coconut. The palate is awash in aggressive epicatechins and this robs the wine of balance. No doubt many will argue that this wine will age, but the tannins seem to dominate the palate at the moment and a question mark remains over their eventual resolution. It lacks balance. 2025–30. | 92


GD Vajra Barolo Coste di Rose Barolo 2020 (14% ABV)


| 90


restrained, without the same depth of fruit and exuberance as its stablemate. Perhaps, though, the embroidery is a little finer and there is more allusive detail. Both are delicious wines and well worth a look, and the style contrasts between them are well-drawn. 2025–35. | 90 MP | Obvious and complex nose, showing vanilla, sweet spice, cedar, char, cinnamon, and clove alongside tinned strawberry, cooked fruit, and a vegetal note. The palate shows a better balance of tannins and fruit, but the vegetal note on the nose continues to make a mark and the palate lacks the finesse and complexity that it really ought to deliver. This is an enjoyable glass of Barolo for early consumption. 2026–31. | 93


Borgogno Barolo Barolo 2020 (14.5% ABV)


| 89


SH | Dense, heady, ripe strawberry combines with black and red fruits on the nose. On the palate, there is a kind of fresh savoriness, brightness, and vibrancy, together with some ripe fruit in the middle. There is a slightly rustic quality to the tannins, but there is also a charming quality to the fruit. 2025–32. | 89 AJ | A very slightly paler wine than the same producer’s other 2020 Barolo: clear garnet-red, almost to the meniscus. Warm, sweet, rounded, and graceful, with slightly finer-grained, intense, and perfumed fruits than its stablemate. Very attractive and inviting, with an unusual creamy depth. On the palate, too, this is a more complex and concentrated wine than its stablemate. Certainly more there. It is, though, a little dry, and there are some bitter notes on the finish. Best with food over the next decade. 2025–34. | 87 MP | Earnest, pronounced, and obvious nose, with notes of truffle, game, Bovril, marmite, black cherry, licorice, allspice, and baked cherry. The ripe tannins and generous alcohol work together to drive a long finish that relies primarily on the cooked black fruit rather than any additional complexity. In the glass, this offers a beguiling portrait of Barolo in 2020 but it just misses the high notes that further aromatic complexity would have delivered. 2028–33. | 92


Paolo Scavino Barolo Bric del Fiasc Castiglione Falletto 2020 (14.5% ABV)


| 89


SH | Sweetly fragrant, with orange peel and delicate, faded flower aromas. Warm, rich, and quite substantial on the palate. This wine has softly floral aromatics but it is a little heavy on extraction of tannins, and there is not quite enough fruit to support the dense structure. 2025–35. | 92 AJ | Light, translucent garnet-red, though the colors are sustained to the rim. Graceful and light-contoured aromas, with just a touch of papery dryness; light cherry and cranberry fruits. Some licorice, too. Softly attractive, in pure-fruited style. Some cream also. The palate follows the aromatic profile pretty exactly, save that the fruits seem a touch more jammy here than I expected. Concentrated and firm but in stylistic terms slightly awkward; this is clearly a difficult vintage to get right. 2025–35. | 87 MP | Fragrant notes of bay, sage, cooked plum,


THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 87 | 2025 | 205


LAYING DOWN: 2020 BAROLO


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