Kerin O'Keefe - kerinokeefe.com
This beautiful Barolo stuns with heady scents of rose, violet, ripe red berry and white pepper. Showing great precision and utterly delicious, the focused, structured palate doles out ripe red berry, wild strawberry, licorice, and the same white pepper note from the nose along with sage and almost salty mineral notes. It’s youthfully tense but well balanced, boasting tightly wound, refined tannins and vibrant acidity. Drink 2029–2049. Abv: 14.5%
Monica Larner - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
With fruit from one of the top growing sites in Castiglione Falletto, the 2019 Barolo Villero shows a slightly ripe and soft side with cherry and dried raspberry followed by licorice, tar and rusty metal. This is an elegant expression, with a terrific sense of focus, that delivers complexity and depth, especially in this excellent vintage. Only 5,000 bottles were released.
Some may argue the case but, personally, if we had to pick one of these “cru” Barolo as the “king of kings”, our vote would go the “Villero”. The package is complete: strong yet elegant, powerful but dignified, above all pure and balanced. No matter the vintage, this special site in Castiglione Falletto yields a consistently marvelous wine that will age with consummate grace. Dark and brooding in its youth, it matures into a regal wine of exceptional depth. For us it is the quintessential Barolo. This 1.5 hectare vineyard faces southwest at an altitude of 340 meters. The vines were planted in 1961. The “Villero” is aged in large French oak “botti” for at least two years after a cuvaison of three weeks or more. Approximately 5500 bottles are produced annually; 1,200 bottles plus 60 magnums are bottled exclusively for us for the US market.
