Giacomo Fenocchio Barolo Villero 2019
CRITICAL ACCLAIM:
“The precision and beauty that Claudio Fenocchio is able to coax out of his wines is astonishing and this 2019 Villero is an opus. Dark cherry aromas lift from the glass, with layers of sweet and savory spice, black tea and rose bud. The wine is so generous and giving with a combination of wild red fruits and dark berries that meld perfectly with notes of cinchona bark, camphor, thyme and a distinct chalkiness. A sublime wine. Drink now–2050.” - 98 PTS., JEFF PORTER, WINE ENTHUSIAST (03/2024)
“The 2019 Barolo Villero has a bright and polished bouquet with small red fruits, tart cherries and blue flowers. Villero is a site in Castiglione Falletto, and it always shows a very linear and focused character. This wine concludes with fine tannins and pretty freshness. Rusty mineral notes also appear. This is a limited production of just 5,800 bottles.” - 93 PTS., MONICA LARNER, WINE ADVOCATE (04/2024)
“The 2019 Barolo Villero is the most inward of the wines in this range. It offers good depth, but today the acids and tannins are simply overwhelming. Time in the glass releases hints of tobacco, cedar, dried herbs and earthiness. It will be interesting to see if the Villero softens in bottle. Today, it is a bruiser, but a promising bruiser. Drinking window: 2026-2039” - 92+ PTS., ANTONIO GALLONI, VINOUS MEDIA (09/2023)
IMPORTER NOTES:
OVERVIEW: “The Villero Cru is in Castiglione Falletto where the two main sub-soil types of Barolo (Helvetian and Tortonian) cross. This cru delivers a richer, bigger Barolo than the other Crus of Montforte d’Alba. This would qualify as the most ‘spicy’ of the Barolo Crus with a richness rivaling Bussia overlaying lighter tannins than that cru.”
TASTING: “COLOR - Intense garnet with ruby highlights; BOUQUET - Rich complex complex and rich with fruit, floral scents, spices, underbrush and plums.; PALATE - The Villero Cru is known for buoyant aromatics and a dry palate with a lasting impression of warm and elegant sweet tannins and a long and lingering finish.”
ABOUT THE WINERY: “Five generations of Fenocchios have farmed the heart of the Barolo zone, with holdings amassed in the storied Bussia of Monforte d’Alba — a cru so intertwined with the family that locals will tell you the Fenocchios are the Bussia. Giacomo Fenocchio raised the estate’s ambitions in 1964, adding prized parcels in Cannubi and Castellero; when his son Claudio took the reins in 1989, the modernist wave was sweeping through Barolo, promising new oak, quick extractions, and easy acclaim. Claudio never wavered. Organic farming. Native-yeast fermentations without temperature control. Long macerations on the skins — up to 40 days, and a full 90 for the Riserva “90 Dì,” its cap submerged in the old way. Aging only in large Slavonian casks. The result is what critics now call radical traditionalism: Barolos of crystalline terroir clarity from 14 hectares spanning four great crus — Bussia, Cannubi, Villero, and Castellero — each speaking its dialect of Nebbiolo with startling precision.”