tasting / laying down / 2020 Barolo
apple skin, and bramble all appear on the nose alongside a note of cooked veg and tar. The palate is lively and refreshing, although it misses the extra gear that the best wines from this vintage show. 2026–30. | 89
Luigi Baudana GD Vajra Barolo Cerretta Serralunga d’Alba 2020 (14% ABV)
| 89
SH | The nose is intense and rich, with cherries soaked in alcohol, sweet vanilla cream, and spice. On the palate, it is full, round, and savory, with juicy, fresh acidity, but it is a little rustic in its delivery of Serralunga. The tannins are drying and not fully integrated into the body of the wine and there is a green flavor to the fruit. 2025–32. | 88 AJ | Deep red-black though translucent; garnet to scarlet. Bright, sweet cherry and currant fruit, with some fresh-cut hay notes. Almost touches of greenness or herbaceousness, not common in this vintage. Soupy, dilute; honestly disappointing for these vineyards. There is fair constitution to the wine but the aromatics and flavors lack resonance, purity, ripeness, and serenity. A little shocking. 2025–31. | 82 MP | Perfectly judged on the nose, with the classic dried-rose, tinned-strawberry, raspberry- jam, and violet notes of the very best of Serralunga. The nose offers a spectrum that includes red fruit but also embraces violets, black cherry, plum, and cranberry. The key ingredient is the way these work together to create an aromatic picture that encompasses a huge range of flavors without one proving dominant. The palate is similarly impeccable, the silkiest of tannins working with bright acidity and layers of fruit. Classic and beguiling. 2030–40. | 98
Rivetto Barolo del Comune di Serralunga d’Alba Serralunga d’Alba 2020 (14.5% ABV)
| 89
SH | Amorphous nose, lacking distinction, but some red and black fruits and gentle oak-spice combined to create a quite pleasant overall effect. Broad, black-cherry flavors combine with crunchy tannins and leafy green notes to create a rustic, characterful effect on the palate. Robust style on the palate, characterful but rustic. This wine lacks some of the finesse of the best wines of Serralunga. 2025–32. | 87 AJ | A deeper scarlet-garnet than many of its peers, yet some bricking at the meniscus, too. Earthy, warm, boisterous red fruits, with a sappy quality, yet with some sweetness, too. Attractive and vivacious, though still principally primary at this stage. A touch of smoke and phenol. More complete than many aromas on show today. Exuberant and mouth-filling on the palate, with fair concentration of fruit. The fruit isn’t very subtle, though, and nor is the spectrum of ripeness and resonance wholly satisfactory. But it’s a very good Barolo from qualitative vineyards and may provide fresh excitement while you are waiting for the riper vintages to achieve plenitude. Perhaps over-earthy on the finish. 2025–33. | 91 MP | Attenuated nose, with some lively herbal notes of bay, balsamic vinegar, and sage. The palate is exceptionally tannic, with lashings
206 | THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 87 | 2025
PERFECTLY JUDGED ON THE NOSE, WITH THE CLASSIC DRIED-ROSE, TINNED-STRAWBERRY, RASPBERRY-JAM, AND VIOLET NOTES OF THE VERY BEST OF SERRALUNGA. CLASSIC AND BEGUILING
of mouth-puckering phenols and obvious oak notes of vanilla and caramel. This is a modern style of Barolo, with obvious oak and lacking the layers of fruit necessary to drive complexity. 2026–31. | 90
Arnaldo Rivera Rocche di Castiglione Barolo Castiglione Falletto (14% ABV)
| 89
SH | From vineyards in Castiglione Falletto UGA. These wines are sometimes seen as a transition in style between La Morra and Serralunga. Dark ruby in color, with tea-leafy notes on the nose. There is a firm, very assertive quality to the tannins on the palate, and the tannins have a dense, silty texture. Somewhat lacking in ripe fruit qualities, this wine seems a little too driven and austere at the moment. 2026–36. | 92 AJ | Vivid mid-garnet, right to the rim. Lively and fresh, with some cherry fruit evident; some oak sweetening, too? Pretty—though decidedly in sweet style. A touch of thyme for complexity. Light but honestly just a little stringy, without any sense of wealth or expansiveness of fruit. I can’t blame the producer, as the concentration seems sound and the aging process (despite the sweetness suggested by the aromas) wasn’t misguided, but the vintage just hasn’t delivered wealth and resonance. 2025–33. | 86 MP | The nose is a throwback to an older style of Barolo, with very obvious and ripe fruit showing bramble, black cherry, hawthorn, and some spicy notes including black pepper, clove, and cinnamon. The palate is richly scented with black fruit, but it lacks the breadth of aromatic complexity necessary to merit a higher score. 2026–32. | 90
Matteo Ascheri Barolo Coste & Bricco Serralunga d’Alba 2020 (15% ABV)
| 89
SH | Ripe black-cherry, cream, and spice notes; firm, forceful, chunky, and robust in style. Lacks some of the finesse associated with the very best wines of the Serralunga commune. Why? Because there is a slightly green, overextracted quality to the fruit and a bitter, green-olive flavor on the finish. The shortcomings or lack of ripeness have been addressed by creamy, vanilla oak, but it doesn’t quite work as a balanced whole. 2025–35. | 88 AJ | Bright yet relatively deep scarlet-garnet. Warm and fresh, with a fine mill of fruit and more secondary complexities than for most
of its peers: soft leather, warm heartwood, dry leaves, a hint of fungi. Bravo for nourishing these complexities in a year when they didn’t come flocking. In the mouth, the wine is vivid and relatively generously contoured, with much of the complexity noted on the aroma. There’s a fine core of penetrating fruit, matched to soft, juicy, floral acidity and brisk tannins. The concentration is there, striking just the right balance between drinkability and sippability, and the overall effect is complex. Excellent work. 2025–38. | 92 MP | Wow. A highly aromatic nose reminiscent of Cognac, with a spirity note and very obvious, cooked black fruit, including cherry, plum, and damson—there is a baked, almost oxidative character. On the palate, the very high alcohol is the most obvious participant, with the fruit a distant second. The finish is warming—even spirity—and it lacks elegance. 2025–28. | 86
Luciano Sandrone Barolo Le Vigne 2020 (14.5% ABV)
| 88
SH | Medium-deep, youthful, dark ruby color. The nose is gentle but has some depth and layers of aroma, with fragrant notes of rose and iris supported by black cherry and subtle touches of cream and spice. Round and soft first impression in terms of weight and texture, but slightly green fruit, unripe cherry and bitter cranberry flavors, bright, juicy acidity, but with quite a drying, tannic finish. Despite such a promising start on the nose, the palate feels a little harder, with unripe tannins. Pair with rich, meaty dishes to show its best. 2024–28. | 84 AJ | Deep scarlet, right to the rim, but translucent for all that. Cherry is the principal fruit note here, with some earthy plum beneath. Vanilla, too. Some use of small oak, clearly. Attractive, but more primary than many of its peers, and honestly a little sweet for my taste. On the palate, the oak is less evident (other than in a dryish firmness of tannin); the currants are concentrated, and those fruit flavors have not in the end been over-sweetened or compromised. Relatively chunky and four-square in style. 2025–30. | 86 MP | Discreet and elegant nose, with very fine notes of red currant, tinned strawberry, hawthorn, red cherry, red apple, black cherry, cinnamon, and cedar. This has a certain refined elegance and polished, powdery tannins that help the wine finish with tremendous length and vibrancy. There’s weight and structure but also the concentration of fruit and complexity necessary to help this develop. 2028–35. | 95
Fratelli Serio & Battista Borgogno Barolo 2020 (14% ABV)
| 88
SH | Medium-deep garnet, rather than ruby, in color. The nose is soft and not very incisive, like diffused light, with notes of warm spice, cream, and a touch of ripe, black-cherry coulis. There is a nice harmony and integration on the palate, with ripe, sweet cherry, robust tannins, and lively acidity. Charming and approachable. 2024–32. | 89 AJ | Limpid and translucent garnet-red. Less articulate than its other blended peers. Soft, sweet fruits, but I’d be hard put to say which
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