Barale Fratelli

BARALE FRATELLI

Barolo

Barolo (CN), Piedmont

The Barale family - one of Barolo’s oldest winemaking families - has a unique space in the Barolo hierarchy. Long considered royalty in Italy and in the EU, they have had a much lower profile in the USA until the last few years, in part due to the re-awakening that young daughters Eleonora and Gloria have ushered in. However, more importantly, it’s because their longstanding style of perfumed and elegant Nebbiolo is back in fashion.

As a Nebbiolo geek long before I began importing, I would buy these wines from a few shops in Manhattan that were known for insider wines and those that the European market cherished for their true character - the kind of wines that don’t push for scores. It’s pretty cool to now import these wines that I was already so fond of.

The Barale family cantina is smack in the middle of the historic Barolo village (I’m not sure a price could be put on it). Though the family lives a little bit outside of the historic center, the cantina itself includes a multi-level guest condo above the winery and cellar, complete to entertain and to host visitors.

The space reflects warmth and the genuine style of Piedmont, adorned with art and relics from the past. Eleonora and her family are warm and inviting, yet very private. Refreshingly, they don’t even have an Instagram account.

Their landholdings include historic clones in renowned vineyards such as Bussia, Monrobiolo di Bussia, and Castellero. Their Bussia land is more specifically from Bussia Soprana, a historic sub-plot of the larger vineyard. They note the specific sub-parcels on the back of their bottles, giving a clue to their thoughts on the specificity of place.

Despite evolving taste and the emergence of modern trends in past decades, the Barale family never strayed from traditional expressions of Barolo. In perhaps the biggest nod to history and an older mentality that they carry forward, the family uniquely continues to release a riserva bottling from Bussia Soprana, seeing extended aging in demijohn. This gives the wine a little extra maturity prior to release without creating much oxidation. Bussia Soprana is Sergio Barale’s (the father) favorite vineyard. He even has a horse stable at the base of it.

Eleonora Barale describes true Barolo as being perfumed and delicate, yet with a linear structure—wine able to be enjoyed on the nose alone. They have never used barrique despite pressure to do so. We love traditional Barolo, though find a fine line across sub-styles for what best coaxes out the intrinsic qualities of Nebbiolo and allows it to really express the land. Their style is the one that we most appreciate.

While quality is always high, the family places much emphasis on vintage character as well. With this, we find the difference in personal preference between vintages varies to a greater degree than with the average Barolo producer - this is ultimately good and reflective of truth in terroir.

Regarding quality, we recognize that it is separate from character and from terroir expression - while quality is always important, these wines do not sacrifice character in any capacity - which is to say that a more clinical level of control in the cellar is not employed.

To that point, cellar work is simple and based on time tested methods - Nebbiolo sees native yeast fermentation in neutral “tina”, with aging in neutral Slavonian or French oak tonneau (usually 15-30hl). Wine is bottled without fining or filtration and movements are kept to a minimum.

With the recent trend in Piedmont to treat fruit more delicately (with some Burgundian techniques), it’s interesting to see one of Barolo’s oldest families speaking about the same general theme.

We find the Nebbiolo based wines to be light-ish, yet powerful. Elegant, for sure. Although they are obviously traditional in style, they have more much more life than others that are farmed conventionally and feel more drying. To us, the most interesting element is that there is a flowing roundness to the seams without the wines being round. It’s kind of like the sensation of the type of complexity that comes with angular Nebbiolo, without the wines being angular.

In recent years, they have also doubled down on an organic farming approach. A fascinating anecdote to “natural wine” and its pop-culture connotation as a particular style and image, is that Barale is an important member of the VinNatur organization, even undertaking experiments to reintroduce extinct bug populations back into the local terroir. Walking through their vineyards, the land is alive, in contrast to much of the Barolo landscape.