Barolo Bricco Rocche DOCG 2015 Ceretto

The 2015 Barolo Bricco Rocche is gorgeous, and the key here is elegance. The winemaking team at Ceretto has finely integrated the tannins so that the wine comes out as super silky and fine. Showing all the delicate balsamic notes and dark fruit typical of the variety, this Barolo with fruit from Castiglione Falletto has just about everything that you expect from this prestigious denomination, surely even deserving a filet mignon to accompany it when you do open the bottle down the road from today. Some 4,000 bottles were made.

I write this introduction now that a few weeks have passed since I tasted and reviewed these samples from Ceretto. With the benefit of that distance in time, I can say that no set of wines in this entire article on Barolo and Barbaresco has made a stronger impact on me than these. I am awestruck by the extreme quality, grace and elegance presented here. I have no doubt that this is the strongest set of new Ceretto wines I have ever had the privilege to taste. I notice that all the wines are united by an extreme level of silkiness and spot-on tannic management. It is truly something exceptional. Among these new vintages, we also have a new member of the family. Ceretto debuts its 2015 Barolo Bussia from Monforte d'Alba, now adding a wine from a fifth important township in the Barolo appellation. They already produce Barolos from Bricco Rocche in Castiglione Falletto, Cannubi San Lorenzo in Barolo, Brunate in La Morra and Prapò in Serralunga d'Alba. It's hard to choose a favorite, and all these wines—even the Prapò from heavier soils—deliver that extreme silkiness that caught my eye and won my heart.

Instantly attractive and ethereal nose with rich perfume and ripe red cherries and plums, as well as wild flowers and herbs. So beautiful and complex. The palate has such concentration and purity from start to finish. There’s an incredibly deep vein of ripe cherries here, framed in perfectly polished and layered tannins. Great Barolo. Try from 2023.

The 2015 Barolo Bricco Rocche is the most delicate and finessed of the four Ceretto 2015 Barolos. All of the signatures that make this Castiglione Falletto site so compelling come through effortlessly. Bright, medium in body and finely sculpted, the 2015 speaks to precision above all else. Like all of these 2015, the Bricco Rocche is embryonic. I can't wait to taste it in another few years. Today, the 2015 comes across as tightly wound and classically austere, but in the best sense of those terms. In other words, it is a wine for the cellar.