Barolo 2019: vintage report & 139 recommendations

Barolo 2019 vintage rating: 5/5

Good distribution of rainfall throughout the long growing season, with a warm spring, a scorching end to July which led to sunburnt grapes in some vineyards, and a hailstorm in September which mostly affected vines in La Morra. October was drier, with mild days and cool nights. Comparisons to the very structural 2013 vintage have been made by more than one producer.

Scroll down to see the top-scoring Barolo 2019 wines

The 2019 vintage

The adjective ‘classic’ can only partly be intended, as it is in Bordeaux, to indicate wines that are less concentrated. Here in Barolo, ‘classic’ refers to traditional, old-fashioned or even old-school styles – a ‘classic’ vintage is more austere than supple.

All the producers agree on the point that 2019 is a classic vintage. Even if it lacks a bit of concentration, it deserves five stars. But let’s go in order. Compared to the most recent (yet to be bottled) 2021 and 2022 vintages, which were affected by drought, 2019 started with good water reserves for the vines thanks to plenty of rain and snow through the winter, crucial for storing water in the steep, weathered, poor soils of the Barolo hills.

‘The sum of the rainfall in 2021 and 2022 together doesn’t reach the levels of 2019 by itself,’ Maria Teresa Mascarello announced to me. Conversely, the annual average rainfall of 654.5mm recorded for 2019 (according to the analytical data collected by respected ‘mapman’ Alessandro Masnaghetti on his platform barolomga360.it) was lower than that for the rainy, warm 2018 vintage’s 923.7mm.

And while 2018 was considered a bit ‘diluted’, 2019 is not, thanks to a better distribution of rainfall and a drier last part of the season. In terms of the spring, the two vintages were similar: pressure from diseases was quite high at flowering and fruit-set, and most of the 2019 wines that show rustic tannins can be attributed to this.

In 2019, warmth set in early, and the end of July was marked by terrible heat: ‘We measured 46-47°C in the vineyards,’ said Andrea Delpiano, Giovanni Rosso’s winemaker in Serralunga.

Temperatures peaking over 40 degrees were ‘followed by rain,’ as Fabio Alessandria from GB Burlotto specified. ‘We had some sunburn on the grapes in Bussia,’ admitted Marta Rinaldi from the Giuseppe Rinaldi estate which this year will release its first Bussia MGA. Sunburn was one of the main threats in 2019, as well as a hailstorm in September which mostly affected La Morra. ‘We did not pick Rocchette Vino due to the hail,’ confirmed Francesco Bianco, winemaker at Gianfranco Bovio. Apart from that, 2019 didn’t suffer spring frost as in 2021, and registered a great conclusion with mild days and cool nights which extended the season.

Harvest in 2019 finished around 20 October: the epitome of classic! Nebbiolo grapes with longer growing seasons are, in my experience, the best in terms of complexity and ability to age. The wines of this vintage have slightly more acidity, more structure, a bit of sternness: trademark Barolo.

See all 139 wines from Aldo’s Barolo 2019 report

View the score table with all 165 Barolo 2019 & Barolo 2017 Riservas from Aldo’s report

Classic

What, in my personal view, counts even more to further define ‘classic’ and my preference for this vintage, is that 2019 also has lower alcohol: 13.5-14%, which results in 0.5% to 1% below the average. Also, the lower the alcohol the better the management of volatile acidity, which was kept to a minimum in this vintage.

For GB Burlotto’s Fabio Alessandria, ‘the 2019 shows analytical data like 2013 in terms of tannins, alcohol and acidity, which is five to ten percent higher than usual. It produces a vertical wine, one that is straight, not powerful nor broad. My wines seem to have less shoulder and more energy [in 2019].

‘In the end, we have two to three great vintages for each decade, just like in the past. Most likely the 2019 is a less approachable vintage for those who are not too involved in Barolo.’

This last sentence captures my curiosity for these wines and their potential for evolution. Even Roberto Conterno from Giacomo Conterno compares 2019 – which is ‘more structured’ – with the ‘super-structured 2013.’ In comparison, he said, ‘the 2020 vintage is more exuberant and 2021 is somewhere in the middle of the two’.

The first tastings of Barbaresco, now releasing the 2020 vintage, have shown very sweet tannins and more round and approachable wines without being simple or obvious. They suggest another promising year for Barolo – but less upscale compared to 2019. At the same time, the samples of 2021 I tasted from barrel have shown great concentration and power. Will it be better?

I prefer to be pragmatic with such complex 2019s in the glass. To dive in even further, we could look to the analytical data collected by ‘mapman’ Alessandro Masnaghetti on his platform, barolomga360.it. In terms of rainfall, the 2019 vintage was slightly lower but close to 2016 and 2013 (25.76 inches). At the same time, monthly heat summation (per temperature > 10°C) was close to vintages like 2016 or 2006 but higher compared to 2013.

Which Barolo 2019 should you seek out?

The wines that do not lack in concentration – such as the great Brunate from Rinaldi, the astonishing Monfortino from Giacomo Conterno, the complex Bartolo Mascarello, and the super-elegant Monvigliero from GB Burlotto – deserve attention in the 2019 vintage.

Interestingly, three of these four top examples are blends, which well describes this vintage: blending the grapes from different MGAs has produced wines with more volume, refinement and complexity at this early stage. The single-MGA wines will need more time to develop their complexity, although they already demonstrate signature characteristics.

Southern exposures are back at the top in 2019, with sleek examples such as Brezza’s Sarmassa in the commune of Barolo. Cerretta in Serralunga d’Alba, with its multiple exposures, is increasingly establishing itself as one of the best and most consistent MGAs.

Gianfranco Bovio was among a handful of pleasant surprises among the lesser-known producers, adjusting their winemaking style to shorten the duration of pumping over, switching from barrique to botti grandi, and incorporating a splash of press wine a là Bordeaux.

Excluding La Morra – which in my opinion is too large to be easily defined, and moreover suffered from hail in 2019 – both Monforte and Serralunga performed better than the commune of Barolo in terms of quality.

Barolo 2019: Top-scoring wines

The following 25 wines all scored 96 points or above

View the score table with all 165 Barolo 2019 & Barolo 2017 Riservas from Aldo’s report

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