Notes & Flavors

A deep red in the glass introduces aromas of  pure cherries and plums accented with spice, graphite, eucalyptus and licorice. Warm and dry character with firm tannins balanced by a fresh and gentle acidity. A unique soil composition with blue clay translates in a wine with a powerful elegance.

Baudana enjoys amazing soil conditions, thanks to a higher water retention. Harvest usually takes place on the third week of October. Fermentation starts quite fast and runs smoothly for approximately 30 days, followed by another 10 days of maceration. One Slavonian cask is used to ferment most of the grapes, with some stainless-steel vessels used as a backup. Punch-downs and gentle pump-overs are the only operations over the time of maceration. The wine is wracked into oak after malolactic fermentation and spends an average of 32+ months in large Slavonian oak casks.

96 Points, Wine Advocate

"Cerretta is one of my personal favorite growing sites in Serralunga d'Alba, thanks to that more pronounced mineral signature of rusty nail or crushed stone that comes into plain view. White marl soils cover reddish clay not too far under the surface. Those territorial markers are especially well defined in this classic vintage. The Luigi Baudana 2016 Barolo Cerretta unfolds slowly in the glass to reveal orange peel, blue flower and camphor ash. There is generous black fruit in there as well, carefully woven into the greater texture of the wine. The tannins are accessible and integrated, and that's an important fact to know when measuring the wine's drinking window. You could age it longer or even contemplate a cork-popping in the not-so-distant future (say after 2025). I love the lingering linearity of this 3,000-bottle production."

95 Points, Vinous

"The 2016 Barolo Cerretta is dark, virile and imposing. Black cherry, lavender, scorched earth, cloves, leather and a range of balsamic notes give the Cerretta its somber, virile feel. Ample and powerful yet also medium in body, the Cerretta captures so much of what makes Nebbiolo so captivating, specifically the ability for a wine to constantly transform in the glass."