The Communes of Barolo and Barbaresco

We understand that many Justerini & Brooks customers are fully au fait with the intricacies of the Piedmont’s two principal wine regions; Barolo and Barbaresco, but for those less familiar, or perhaps just in need of a refresher, we provide here a summary of the key communes in both regions. When one considers the diversity of soil, elevation, aspect and micro-climate across the Langhe, even before the complexities of vine age, clonal variation, training methods and winemaking technique, it becomes ever-clearer that the wines of Barolo and Barbaresco comprise some of the most terroir-driven of any wine region in the world. 

In the context of noteworthy single cru Barolo and Barbaresco, the likes of which are represented in our offer today, a little insight into the broad characteristics of each commune may help to narrow down a selection of wines that will appeal to your personal tastes. To the connoisseurs, we hope that a simple overview might tempt a move into new areas, or some lesser-known crus, in the pursuit of diverse and contemporary Barolo and Barbaresco collections.

For your convenience, we have also included a summary of the single crus we offer from each commune. While there are a total of eleven approved communes in the DOCG Barolo appellation, we have opted to focus only on the most prominent six. Not included are Roddi, Grinzane Cavour, Novello (home to Ravera – an increasingly famous single vineyard), Cherasco and Diano d’Alba. In Barbaresco we have opted not to include San Rocco Seno d'Elvio. 

A week of tasting the new releases in Piedmont at some of region’s best addresses revealed a 2018 vintage that is seductively charming and instantly likeable. Very different in style to the richer, more concentrated 2017s but, in our view, a step up. These are aromatic, poised wines of sweet red fruit, freshness, delicacy and melt-in-the-mouth structures. 2018 may not be the typical powerhouse Barolo blockbuster to stick away for fifty years, however this is an early-drinking vintage of sufficient intensity and balance to last a good 10-15 years plus. When wines show this well young, why look beyond two decades? These Barolos and Barbarescos will give great pleasure early in their life, to Nebbiolo geeks and newcomers alike. Contrary to uniform vintages, such as 2016, If you look outside of the established, quality-minded producers, you are sure to find a lot of variation; however a week of visits to the growers we know and love resoundingly confirmed that it was clearly possible to make beautiful wine in 2018. 

Luca Roagna from Roagna - Tuesday 12th May

Buying Director at Justerini & Brooks, Giles Burke-Gaffney was joined by Luca Roagna from Roagna to explain his wine-growing philosophy and guide us through two of his most important, but most contrasting, vineyards: Barolo Pira and Barbaresco Paje.

The snow-capped Langhe region provided a perfect live map of Barolo & Barbaresco’s finest vineyards during my visit to Piedmont last week.  

Bare, melted patches amidst the vast blanket of white revealed exactly where lay the vineyards with the best exposures and warmest micro climates.  In the old days this is how entrepreneurial growers decided on which plots to expand into next, where to do their deals.  These very patches yielded some superb wines in the newly-released 2014 vintage, a year that had its challenges but one that, in the end, proved well-suited to the late-ripening Nebbiolo vines when grown on hillside sites.  For the vintage’s greats, think Brunate, Cerequio, Cannubi, Monvigliero and right across Barbaresco… to call out just a few

Since 1749 we have been supplying the very finest wines and spirits to our customers in Great Britain and beyond.  

Portfolio has always sat at the very heart of Justerini & Brooks. This is why we invest so much and take such pride in how and what we source.  Our six Buyers spend half of the year travelling and tasting in cellars around the globe. Their aim is to track down the world’s finest wines, those that speak of their origins and that our customers will delight in drinking. We directly import from over 300 producers, including the greatest, scarcest names such as Pétrus, Château Lafleur, Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair and Domaine Armand Rousseau. But at Justerini & Brooks we have always valued the undiscovered gem just as much as the famous label.  It is why we have always extolled the virtues of German wine, why we were championing red Burgundy over twenty five years ago before anyone was interested and why we have been banging the drum for Piedmont since the mid-nineties.