2015 Reversanti Barolo DOCG Piedmont Italy 750 ml

“There’s no better Barolo for the price.” Sur Lucero, our Master Sommelier, was to the point and extremely happy—he had just secured our members an incredible deal on the fantastic 2015 version of Reversanti’s Barolo, a favorite of his for going on a decade.

He first discovered the magic of Reversanti’s bottling while opening Oenotri, downtown Napa’s destination-worthy temple of Italian food and wine. It was so popular by-the-glass that they poured it for a year and a half, an astonishing record for a restaurant that prides itself on variety—but their regulars raised hell every time Sur threatened to take it off the list.

That’s because it’s one of the rarest things in Italian wine: an affordable Barolo that was both classically styled and delicious with only a little bit of air. The 2015, from a stellar vintage in Piedmont, is available at an unbelievable price to Wine Access members—a testament to Sur’s long relationship with the estate. At our price, it can easily be a glass-pour favorite in your home as well. 

After a mere hour open, it’s explosively perfumed, with classic Barolo aromas of dark cherries, cranberries, violets, and tarry soil tones. The palate is pleasantly grippy, with fresh flavors that echo the nose: more red and black fruits, black tea, hints of tobacco, and dried roses mingle to provide a drinking experience that’s delicious and contemplative at the same time. 

Reversanti’s Barolo over-delivers because they blend together grapes from prime holdings in three of Barolo’s greatest villages, then keep out of the way once the wine is in the cellar. Vineyards in the town of Barolo itself form the backbone of the blend, with classic red fruit and violet flavors. They also have holdings in La Morra, a village known for softer tannins and pretty, approachable fruit, and in Castiglione Falletto, which brings darker fruit and more intensity to the party. Add it all up and you get a wine that screams “Barolo,” at a price tag far below its peers.

Yields are kept exceptionally low in the vineyards and the grapes are handled traditionally in the winery. A long, four-week maceration builds texture and palate length, before two years in giant, old, Slavonian oak casks allows for tannins to soften and secondary flavors to develop without obtrusive woody flavors. A few years of bottle age further allows the wine to develop, making it a delicious drink today.

If there’s a catch to the Reversanti Barolo, it’s that there isn’t a ton of it made. The estate is young by Barolo standards and so owns a fairly small amount of vineyard land. While it’s extremely well situated, it doesn’t produce much wine. With the sort of demand they see, there’s just not that much to go around. We secured as much as we could, but this isn’t one to sleep on.