The 2014 Flavio Roddolo Barolo stands as an insider's treasure because it remains traditional while expressing soulful and artisanal characteristics. Flavio Roddolo operates from Monforte d'Alba where he maintains an independent winemaking approach to produce limited quantities of unyielding wines from his family vineyards through minimal winemaking intervention. The wine presents dried cherry scents alongside worn leather notes and forest floor aromas and dried rose petals with anise and iron and delicate spice undertones. Roddolo follows a patient approach to winemaking by extending the aging period of his wines beyond standard requirements while using large neutral oak barrels without any haste. The current vintage from this producer is what we have in front of us. The Barolo presents itself as a wine from a bygone era because it lacks any artificial elements while delivering authentic Nebbiolo flavors that result from extended aging.
2014 Flavio Roddolo Barolo
Flavio Roddolo is the last of the Mohicans: a reclusive farmer in the hills of Monforte d’Alba whose wines have cult status. He works alone — he farms, ferments and bottles everything himself, with no marketing, no consultants and no shortcuts — and ignores trends and often the telephone. Production is tiny, and the wines are hard to find even in the Langhe.
Everything is estate-grown on a few hectares. Fermentations are spontaneous, the wines rest in large neutral wood, and Flavio releases them only when he decides they are ready, years or even decades after the harvest. The Barolo, from a bygone era in the best sense, offers dried cherry, worn leather, forest floor, anise and iron. His Nebbiolo d’Alba behaves like a young Barolo, wild and full of cherry skin and rose petal. He is perhaps most famous for Dolcetto d’Alba, aged for years before release from low yields, proving the grape can have serious structure, and his Barbera d’Alba Superiore shows the same concentration with balsamic lift.
The surprise is Bricco Appiani, a Cabernet Sauvignon from Monforte — herbaceous, dark-fruited and earthy, with no polish and plenty of soul. Roddolo’s wines are savory and uncompromising, and they keep evolving in the glass for hours: a reminder of what tradition in Barolo actually looks like.