2011 Barolo – A First Look

The 2011 Barolos continue to surprise. Radiant, open and already quite expressive, the 2011s show terrific potential.

I admit I haven't always been a fan of the 2011 Barolos. Over time, though, the cream has risen to the top. One of my concerns since I first started tasting the 2011s a few years ago was the lack of site-specific signatures. Now that the wines have had time to come together what emerges is a much more complex picture. The personalities of the truly great sites are very much alive in the best 2011s, but as one moves down the ladder of vineyard quality things get a little trickier and less defined. In 2011, the wines are deeply marked by the specific choices producers made, whereas in years like 2010 it is the vintage itself that speaks most eloquently. 

The best 2011 Barolos are pretty, silky wines that are likely to drink well pretty much upon release. My impression is that this is not a vintage to cellar for the long term, but, then again, Nebbiolo has a way of transforming in bottle, so we will see. The 2011s are a step down from the 2010s but more consistent and higher in quality than the 2009s. Overall, 2011 is a vintage with more variability than is the norm in a truly great year, but there are plenty of highlights nonetheless. 

Monvigliero, Verduno

At the time of my visits in July and August 2014, I expected to see all of the 2011 Barolos still in barrel, but instead I found quite a few wines in bottle. A handful of growers have quietly begun moving up their bottling dates now that the minimum oak aging requirement for Barolo has been lowered from two years to 18 months. The rationale for shortening the amount of time a wine spends in oak centers around preserving fruit and freshness, but, as with everything, there are multiple views on that subject. In addition, a number of the producers I visited felt that because of the precocious personality of the year, their 2011s were ready earlier than normal, so the wines went into bottle anywhere from a few weeks to a few months ahead of schedule.

Tasting a wide range of wines from bottle and barrel at Vietti