Wine Advisor
Vietti, Barolo Brunate 2016
Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Monica Larner
Luca Currado farms in the Brunate cru on the La Morra side of the vineyard (as opposed to the Barolo side), and this wine includes fruit from new parcels. The differences are subtle to be sure, but I always associate La Morra with an extreme silkiness and softness. I find those qualities apply to this wine. The Vietti 2016 Barolo Brunate shows blue flowers, forest fruit, wild cherry and truffle-infused earth. It reveals a lean but open-knit quality that you sense in the mouth. That softness, or textural silkiness, continues for many long minutes with hints of mint, licorice and camphor ash doled out carefully along the way. The tannins are polished and long. This is an extremely elegant Brunate.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2016 Barolo Brunate is a powerful, vertical wine endowed with tremendous explosive energy and intensity. Crushed flowers, mint, spice and dried flowers open up in the glass, but it is the wine's energy that really elevates it into the stratosphere. In the glass, the 2016 is dark, somber and full of the sepia-toned nuances that are such signatures of this great Barolo vineyard. This is the first vintage that includes Vietti's newest parcel in Brunate. Perhaps more importantly, though, the 2016 is the first vintage in which French oak is minimal. This is a stunning vintage for the Brunate.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
Very layered and tannic with dried-strawberry, cedar and chocolate aromas and flavors. It’s full-bodied, yet so balanced and pretty. Tight, yet creamy texture, making it so approachable. Better than the 2015. Better after 2023.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2016 Barolo Brunate is a powerful, vertical wine endowed with tremendous explosive energy and intensity. Crushed flowers, mint, spice and dried flowers open up in the glass, but it is the wine's energy that really elevates it into the stratosphere. In the glass, the 2016 is dark, somber and full of the sepia-toned nuances that are such signatures of this great Barolo vineyard. This is the first vintage that includes Vietti's newest parcel in Brunate. Perhaps more importantly, though, the 2016 is the first vintage in which French oak is minimal. This is a stunning vintage for the Brunate.
About the Producer
Vietti is located in the Castiglione Falletto wine region in the Cuneo province of Piedmont, Italy. The wines produced by the winery are not only of excellent quality, among which the Vietti Barolo Ravera 2010 wine won a perfect score from the wine critic Antonio Galloni (Antonio Galloni), who was once the "Wine Spectator", but also launched the "Artist's Wine". The "target wine" idea adds a strong artistic flavor to the wine. The Vietti family's passion for art has so far been fully reflected in the creation of wine art labels. Since 1974, certain Vietti wines have been decorated with specially designed original works (lithographs, woodcuts, etchings, silkscreens, reliefs) inspired by specific vintages. The number of prints is the same as the number of bottles produced, with the first 100 labels signed by the artist. Each piece is used only once for a particular vintage. From the 1982 vintage of Barolo Villero sold in 1988, the artist's label has been dedicated to the wines made in this great vineyard. The history of Chateau Vietti can be traced back to the 19th century. But it wasn't until the early 20th century that Vietti became a winery and sold its own bottles under that name. The founder of the winery, Mario Vietti, began making the first Vietti wines in 1919, mainly for sale in Italy. His most important achievement was the transformation of a family farm in many industries into a viticulture and winemaking business. In 1952, Luciana Viett's husband, Alfredo Currado, continued to make high-quality wines from grapes from their own vineyards and from purchased grapes. Very quickly, Chateau Vietti grew into one of Piedmont's top wine producers and one of the first wineries to export to the American market. Alfredo was one of the first pioneers to select grapes from a single vineyard for winemaking, which was a radical concept at the time, but today virtually every Barolo and Barbaresco wine is made Merchants sell "single vineyard" or "appellation" wines. Alfredo is also known as the "Father of Arneis" because he spent much time in 1967 rediscovering and understanding this nearly extinct breed. Today Arnes is the most prestigious white wine from the Roero region north of Barolo. The wines made by Arnes are so successful that fellow vintners as far away as the West Coast are now cultivating Arnes to make wine! After 1970, the winery launched the idea of "wine with artist label". The Gualado family has 3 children: Emanuela, Elisabetta and Luca. In 1970, Alfredo and Luciana, thanks to their friendship and support with a number of local artists, started updating their labels. They mentioned that, on a long winter night in Langa, a group of artists were eating and drinking with them around the table, suggesting that they decorate their art at the winery with "art on the label". From that moment on, a new label for Vietti wines took shape, which is still in use today. At the same time, the idea of "artist-labeled wines" began to take shape and is still used in the winery's Barolo Riserva Villero.