This magic of Barolo, the Italian wine variety you need to know now
Alessandro Locatelli’s grandmother would say Barolo would one day be talked about like Burgundy – that the unique characters of its vineyards were just as special. She was right.
Alessandro Locatelli’s family were making wine in Barolo before there was an Italy. Established in the village of La Morra in 1841, the family property, Rocche Costamagna, became a favourite of the king of Piedmont, who famously asked the family to hold a particular bottle in their cellars until his return. It says something about the volatility of Italian politics that the bottle is still there. It says even more about Locatelli’s great-grandmother, Madalena. Without her, it could have all been lost.
With Italy rebuilding from the turmoil of war, tragedy struck Rocche Costamagna when Locatelli’s maternal grandparents were killed in a car accident in 1948. Wine production ceased for 20 years as Madalena fought to maintain the family property and raise the young daughter the couple had left behind.
That little girl grew to become an artist, married an engineer and was raising a young family of her own in Turin when Madalena came calling with an offer wrapped around a plea. She would sign over the entire property to her granddaughter if she promised to bring her family back to La Morra, revive the winery and make wine from the family vineyards.
Now with Alessandro at the helm, and his son Francesco at his side, Rocche Costamagna is one of Barolo’s finest estates. Alessandro remembers meeting his great-grandmother and was struck by her belief in Barolo. “She would say that Barolo would one day be talked about like Burgundy – that the unique characters of our vineyards were just as special as theirs.” These days comparisons between Burgundy and Barolo are commonplace, but in the late 1960s, when Barolo was a far more agrarian community, making them would have seemed optimistic at best. “Everyone thought she was a romantic dreamer,” Locatelli says. “She was a visionary instead.”
ROCCHE COSTAMAGNA ‘LANGHE’ NEBBIOLO DOCG 2021
$45
Sourced from vines within La Morra vineyards planted at elevations just above what is allowed for certification as Barolo DOCG. Dry cherry and blood orange, fennel seed and faint florals. A gentle deployment of nebbiolo’s famously firm structure, fresh, bright and poised with a tail of fine, brick dust tannins. 90 points
ROCCHE COSTAMAGNA BAROLO DOCG 2019
$95
Dark cherries, ripe raspberries, dried roses and warm spices. A little salty licorice and a splash of balsamic. It’s sinewy and lithe on the palate, with its dark fruit muscle chiseled out and defined by fine acidity and tight-knit, dusty tannins. 92 points
ROCCHE COSTAMAGNA BAROLO ‘ROCCHE DELL’ANNUNZIATA’ DOCG 2017
$120
The jewel of the family’s extensive vineyard holdings, its quality especially evident in the elegance of this response to the hottest harvest since 2003. Dry cherries and rubbed herbs, blood sausage and balsamic. It’s lithe and taut, finely detailed and tapered with microfine tannins. Remarkable value for a wine from such a celebrated cru. 94 points