2017 Bruno Giacosa AA Falletto Barolo, Piedmont

Sweet berries, smoke, cedar and olives on the nose. Floral. Full-bodied with firm, chewy tannins and a pretty background and ripe fruit. Flavorful finish. Hints of bitter citrus and smoke, too. Very complex. Powerful for Falletto. Drink after 2026.

97 points jamessuckling.com

Bruno Giacosa Azienda Agricola Falletto Barolo is one of the most revered wines of Piedmont and a profound expression of Nebbiolo grown on one of Barolo’s great historic hillsides. The Falletto vineyard sits in Serralunga d’Alba, a village famed for producing the most structured and long lived Barolos, thanks to its compact limestone and sandstone soils and higher elevation. Bruno Giacosa was one of Italy’s true masters, a winemaker whose uncompromising standards and deep respect for tradition set benchmarks for the entire region. At Falletto, the Giacosa family farms their own vines, something that was rare for the estate in its earlier years, allowing total control over vineyard expression and quality.

In the glass the wine shows a deep garnet core with brick tinges, opening with haunting aromas of rose petal, sour cherry, tar, licorice, dried herbs and subtle earthy spice. The palate is powerful yet exquisitely balanced, layering red fruits, iron rich minerality and firm, noble tannins that promise decades of evolution. It is a Barolo built for patience, magnificent with braised beef, wild game, truffles and aged Parmigiano, and capable of aging gracefully for twenty to thirty years, slowly gaining truffle, leather and dried flower complexity. This is Barolo at its most classical and most profound, a wine that speaks not just of place, but of one of the greatest names in Italian wine history.