CellarTracker Community Score: 90.2 (21 reviews)

91 points — CellarTracker member, June 2023
Given an hour in the glass. Clear medium-dark ruby-garnet. Red and black cherry and their liqueurs, leather, roses, crushed gravel, hints of pipe tobacco, porcini and truffle. Pleasantly tart and seamless on the palate, medium-full bodied and balanced with a nice tannic grip. Generous ripe fruit in a polished style. “Outstanding.”

89 points — CellarTracker member, January 2017
Sixty minutes of air before tasting. Medium ruby-garnet, briefly musty before opening to dried roses, tar, dried cherries, red clay, old leather, pine and balsam. Full-bodied and balanced on the palate with good acidity and chalky tannins. Improved further with extended aeration.

Cult Wines International Notes:

Few names in Piedmont carry more history. The cellars sit in the village of Barolo itself, facing the Falletti castle, where in the early 1800s the Marchesa Giulia Falletti — born Juliette Colbert, a French noblewoman who married the Marquis of Barolo — is credited with shaping the dry, age-worthy Nebbiolo that became Barolo as we know it. The estate later passed to the Opera Pia Barolo charitable foundation, and in 1929 the historic cellars were acquired by Pietro Abbona. Six generations of the Abbona family have run the house since. This bottling, the classic Barolo also known as Tradizione, is blended from vineyards across the traditional communes — Barolo, La Morra, Castiglione Falletto and Monforte d’Alba.

1997 was one of the most talked-about vintages in modern Piedmont: a hot, early season that produced deeply ripe Nebbiolo with generous fruit and supple tannins from the start. Where 1996 demanded patience, 1997 charmed immediately, and Marchesi di Barolo met the vintage with a richer, more polished house style. Nearly three decades on, community tasters describe a medium ruby-garnet wine showing dried cherry and cherry liqueur, roses, tar, leather, pipe tobacco, porcini and truffle, carried by fresh acidity and a fine chalky grip. The fruit is mature rather than primary, and recent bottles have rewarded an hour or more of air. This one is ready, and best opened rather than cellared further.