Vietti Barolo Castiglione 2021

A graceful wine with cinnamon, earth, strawberries, sweet violets and leesy complexity. There is a lot of fruit depth, with a full body, lifted acidity and dense, ripe, velvety tannins. The finish is polished yet tight. Drinkable now, but best from 2027.

This bottle marks the end of an era, and all you Barolo Castiglione fans out there are in for some very bad news. The name "Castiglione" is being taking off the bottle, and what we have instead is the Vietti 2021 Barolo. In truth, the name "Castiglione" does appear in very small, small letters at the bottom of the label for old time's sake, but during my discussion during this tasting, I agreed to remove it from the wine's official name in our database. I'm told it will definitely be gone by the next release. Apparently, the estate was on the wrong end of a copyright issue, so it had to go. Winemaking has not changed, and the wine remains a blend of 20-plus MGA sites. There is no particular set formula. The parcels are fermented separately and a final blending decision is made further down the road. You still get the same phenomenal value. This wine offers firm structure, plummy dark fruit flavors and elegantly chalky tannins. The finish is a little dry, and that ending gives the wine a near-term personality. This is an ample 70,000-bottle release.

The 2021 Barolo Castiglione is a ruby red color and is floral on the nose, opening to perfumed aromas of roses, fresh cherries, sweet herbs, and dusty earth. Medium-bodied, it has a lovely structure and is very well-balanced, and I love the apricot-noted fruit on the finish. The fruit is more present than in the 2020 version of the same wine. A fantastic vintage for this entry-level wine, I love it already and would be happy to grab a few cases to enjoy over the coming 15 years. (Moving forward, due to newly implemented labeling restrictions, they are going to remove “Castiglione” from the front label, and it will only be on noted the back label.)

This red is highlighted by macerated cherry, strawberry,rose hip, hay, earth and eucalyptus aromas and flavors.The dusty tannins remain on the finish, leaving a chalky feel, yet this is balanced overall, showing fine length.