TN: 2016 Comm. G.B. Burlotto Barolo Monvigliero (Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo)

2016 Comm. G.B. Burlotto Barolo Monvigliero - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (5/29/2021)
I’ve been itching to try the '16 Burlotto Monvigliero since release and luckily March, Houston’s wonderful new Michelin-level Mediterranean-themed restaurant, had it on their list this past Saturday. This lived up to the hype big time. A wow wine no doubt. Such a unique, singular wine that seemingly straddles the line between being Barolo and Chambolle Musigny. Huge whole cluster nose with ripe strawberries, roses, and tons of spice. Remarkably ethereal and lithe for having such flavor intensity. The floral components give it away as Nebbiolo but it’s in a league of its own in terms of expression of the grape. That pitch perfect sweet Nebbiolo fruit in 2016 underlied by the whole cluster spice intensity here really creates some magic. It’s so expressive now yet I can’t wait to try it in 15-20 years. Wow. (97 pts.)

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It is a stupendously good wine David. I reckon the 2015 is every bit as good too.

A recent bottle of 2007 was gorgeous and I don’t see much room for improvement. Definitely something to enjoy over the next few years!

I can’t believe the price these wines are going for these days. I remember buying the 2011 on release for $65. Lowest price on Wine-Searcher now for any vintage is $189!

Whole cluster + Barolo hadn’t crossed my radar previously. But with some Google help, evidently whole cluster is a famous attribute of the renowned Burlotto Monvigliero.

I’ll add this to my list, alongside Carmes Haut Brion, of whole cluster wines from atypically WC varieties that are well out of my price range. But I will make it a Quixotic mission to find a quality Nebbiolo (and Cab Franc), of more modest means, fermented WC.

That’s what a 100-point score will do for you. Sigh.

Another producer to try that I kept coming back to comparatively while drinking the Burlotto was Comando G. Their 1er bottling is $50 and phenomenal. Heavy whole cluster spice with extremely elegant red Grenache fruit a la Rayas.


I bought a few cases of Carmes Haut Brion in 2016 but I don’t feel that the whole cluster shines quite as much there. Must be because the wines are much more full bodied.

It’s not just the stems that make the Burlotto Monvigliero unique. The grapes are pressed by foot and – crucially – it undergoes an extremely long maceration on the skins of around 60 days. That’s twice as long as the typical traditional Barolo.

Oddly, all of this yields a remarkably feminine (if I’m permitted that word) wine, not a stemmy, tannic brute.

I’d be curious how other Burlotto collectors feel, but in my experience, these wines practically never shut down, and they also don’t seem to evolve very dramatically. I’ve had bottles at release and 5-10 years later and my overall impressions are unchanged. I understand that it’s Barolo and the lifespan is probably meant to be much longer than that, but I’m accustomed to other producers’ wines closing down or evolving in a way I haven’t experienced with Burlotto.

In any event, I love them and consider them worth the premium.

Five to 10 years is not much time for evolution in a Barolo. I haven’t monitored Monviglieros over time, so I don’t know if it tends to shut down. A 2007 in 2017 was open enough, but kind of candied for my tastes.

I bought a bunch of the 1995 in the late 2000s, and it evolved beautifully, though there was a fair deal of bottle variation and the last bottle I opened, last year, seemed a bit tired. I’ve likened the best bottles of the 95 to a Chambolle – lots of strawberries and floral scents.

I doubt this will shut down much at all. I’d really like to try it again in 20 years or so when the tertiary notes start to develop though.

Whole cluster fermentation tends to raise the pH of a wine, and can also reduce the finished alcohol level. Both of these attributes would generally be favorable for Nebbiolo, given the intrinsic high acidity and alcohol. Literally the sharp edges of acidity and alcohol should be smoothed. And the herbal and spice profile of stems seems a natural match with Nebbiolo’s varietal profile, much as with Pinot Noir and Syrah.

The extraction and tannic structure are perplexing, however. Perhaps the stems provide a different type of tannin that is rounder texturally than the grape and seed tannins. They add tannins, but not the kind that are impenetrable as Nebbiolo is prone to at times. Surely there must be some impact on the fermentation and maceration as well. The foot stomping should be gentler than mechanical pressing, and probably leaves more whole berries that ferment semi-carbonically.

On paper, whole cluster Nebbiolo sounds like it has more pros than cons, at least from vineyards where the stems can get ripe. And the Burlotto Monvigliero is a clear proof of principle. Hopefully a few other producers will experiment with whole cluster, as I’ve convinced myself it is at least an interesting experiment.

I have had both the 15 and 16 Monviglieros recently and thought they were sensational, unique interpretations of nebbiolo.
My only hesitation about them comes from how likeable they are now and, in the case of the 15, a slight sense of dilution that made me wonder how much stuffing and aging potential there is underneath.
For all I know, there could be plenty underneath and it’s just not distinguishable, which would really be quite an achievement if true. I don’t know too many winemakers who can pull off that kind of balancing act so successfully.
The alternative theory is that they will be beautifully made, effortless, feminine wines that are great for drinking over the medium term - but may not have the material to evolve or gain significant complexity from where they are now…
Don’t get me wrong, these were far from being simple wines. But for me they lacked the kind of vibrant intensity I get from, say, a Vietti Ravera - where I have little doubt about the magic that will emerge in years to come… Clearly they are different wines and styles of winemaking, but I still would have liked to feel a bit more coiled up energy in reserve.

Too late, more like $500 to $700

Well actually (pushes up nerd glasses) when I was visiting Produttori del Barbaresco, where they normally do macerations ranging from 30 to 50 days with their Barbarescos, I was told that normally Nebbiolo color intensity and tannin extraction tends to peak around 7 to 10 days into maceration. After that the skins start to soak up color and tannins from the wine, so that a wine that has been macerating with the skins for a month or two ends up lighter in color than wine macerated only for a week or so. Unlike the anthocyanincs, which are responsible of the color, I understood the amount of tannins doesn’t really change much, only their quality: it seems to be in some kind of constant fluctuation, as tannin polymers of different lengths bind again with the skins (and possible stems) while others, more slowly soluble tannins slowly get extracted into the wine. Normally prolonged but very gentle macerations produce wines which can have noticeably high tannic content, yet the wine doesn’t feel tough, aggressive or noticeably tannic, as a noticeably large amount of the most aggressive tannins never gets extracted into the wine (from the seeds, for example) or gets soaked up by the skins and/or stems.

The vinification methods can affect the amount of tannins quite noticeably. For example the amount of tannins that get extracted into the wine is can be much smaller for a wine vinified with a submerged cap, even if the skins were macerating in the wine for several months, compared to a wine macerating only for ten days but with multiple daily punchdowns.

In lay terms, that’s what I recall Fabio Alessandria explaining – that, counterintuitively, the long maceration actually softens the tannins. I dimly recall him saying that the stems play a role, too.

It’s rather ironic that the modernists tried to achieve that goal (less harsh tannins) with very short fermentations in rotofermenters and micro-oxygenation in barriques, but there’s an alternative, radically different, more traditional means to a similar end.

anyone had the 15 lately?

Yup, one week ago. It was gorgeous. No sign of warmth from the vintage, unlike the Cannubi which I felt was a bit more affected…

Thanks for the detailed description! So it’s primarily about the quality and gentleness of the maceration, along with some secondary ‘exchange’ between tannins of different character. Perhaps there are other (modernist or technological) means to achieve similar benefits, though since Barolo and Barbaresco have significant DOCG aging requirements, it’s not like the wine has anywhere else it needs to be in the months after harvest when it could be undergoing extended maceration.

Perhaps that is part of the current critical appeal–the immediacy and accessibility from release, with limited tendency for closed periods. Though if one can produce a stylistically Burgundian wine that doesn’t shut down like Burgundy is known to do, that is quite an achievement.

I personally find great utility in wines that are balanced and open over their lifetime. I’d happily trade upside in a wine that peaks when I will already be dead, for a somewhat lower ceiling of greatness over a nearer 15-20 year window.

As funny as this will sound, there is a seeming similarity to cult California wines in that the structure is integrated and the complexity already substantially developed upon release. The technological means and style are very different, of course, but the aspect of immediacy and finesse wrapped around a wine of typically immense structure (iron fist in a velvet glove) is analogous. Though my money would still be on a Barolo to have a much more interesting maturation arc than a cult Cab or Syrah.