2020 Barolo Marcenasco
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Tasting notes
This is the bread-and-butter Barolo from Ratti, with 70,000 bottles produced. Fruit is sourced from over 15 hectares of vine planted on characteristic blue marl soils. The 2020 Barolo Marcenasco is an international classic, and I have had the fortune of following this wine over 20-plus vintages. I always like the unassuming personality of Marcenasco. It gives you character but never stretches too far in any one stylistic direction. This vintage shows some sweet oak and cinnamon, but you also get plenty of bright fruit. You could fault it for a little too much oak, which appears with more strength in 2020.
Critic scores
Average Score
Walter Speller, jancisrobinson.com
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
La Morra. Mid ruby with orange tinges. Subdued but concentrated with just a pinch of oak on the nose and becoming more complex the longer it sits in the glass. Sour-cherry and lively red-fruit notes peppered with persistent, grainy tannins. Complex oak note on the finish that adds rather than detracts from the fruit and is skilfully handled. (WS)
The bright ruby-colored 2020 Barolo Marcenasco is fresh and lively in the glass, with peppery spices, bright red cherries, rose petals, and potpourri. Light on its feet, it’s on the leaner side of the spectrum but has a graceful and elegant stony texture, with fine tannins and a chalky finish. An easy-drinking red, it will do well served with a light chill and as a straightforward wine to enjoy over the next couple of years.
This is linear and so racy with a structure and length and focused energy that takes you long and deep. Itâs medium-bodied with dried strawberry, citrus and spice. Tight at the end. Classicism with transparency. Drink after 2029.