Wine Tastings and Winery Visits in Barolo

Barolo wine tasting: which wineries to visit

Barolo is made in 11 villages south-west of Alba, about an hour from Turin. This page lists more than 100 wine tastings, with more than 700 reviews on Winedering in all, at about 40 wineries, most of them in La Morra, Monforte d'Alba and Serralunga d'Alba. More than four in five experiences last one to two hours, usually with 3 to 5 wines.

Which Barolo wineries are worth visiting?

Five of the most booked, in three villages:

• Alessandro Rivetto, in La Morra: 4 wines in the barrel cellar, a Langhe Nebbiolo, a Barbaresco and two Barolos, with salami and cheese.
• Bel Colle, in Verduno: the winemaker leads a tasting of 4 wines, from a Metodo Classico to a Barolo, with local cheese and cured meats.
• Cascina Adelaide, in Barolo: a tour of the winery, then 5 wines, from a Nascetta del Comune di Novello to the Barolo 4 Vigne.
• Cagliero, in Barolo: you tour the cellar of a family of growers documented in Barolo since the 1500s and taste 8 wines, with breadsticks and Piedmont hazelnuts.
• Voerzio Martini, in La Morra: 9 or 11 wines, among them the Barolo Classico and crus such as La Serra, Cerequio and Monvigliero, with local cheese.

More than a third of this page's bookings over the last two years went to the two lunches at Agricola Marrone, in La Morra: you start among the casks where the Barolo ages, then lunch in the tasting room. Only a few other experiences include a meal. At Giovanni Rosso, in Serralunga d'Alba, a tasting of 6 wines, 4 of them Barolos, comes before a four-course lunch cooked by the estate's chef, with a view of the vines and Serralunga castle. Moscone, in La Morra, pours 3 wines at the winery, and lunch follows on the Belvedere of La Morra. La Briacca, in Monforte d'Alba, serves a picnic in its garden among the vines and hazelnut trees, with a bottle of Langhe Nebbiolo for every two people.

La Morra, Monforte or Serralunga: which Barolo village should you choose?

Start with La Morra or Monforte d'Alba, which between them have more than half of the experiences here. Only Barolo, Castiglione Falletto and Serralunga d'Alba lie entirely inside the appellation; La Morra, Monforte d'Alba, Verduno, Novello, Grinzane Cavour, Diano d'Alba, Roddi and Cherasco only partly.

• La Morra: more than 35 experiences, with crus such as La Serra, Brunate and Rocche dell'Annunziata.
• Monforte d'Alba: about 30. At Costa di Bussia you see the vineyard, the Luigi Arnulfo museum and casks of up to 5,000 litres, then taste 5 wines, two of them Barolo Bussia.
• Serralunga d'Alba: about 15, with crus such as Lazzarito and Vignarionda.
• Barolo: about ten, and the castle houses the WiMu wine museum.
• Castiglione Falletto, Verduno and Diano d'Alba: about five each.

For Barbaresco, the Roero or Dogliani, see the wine tastings in the Langhe, and for the whole region those in Piedmont.

What do you taste at a Barolo wine tasting?

Barolo itself, poured at nearly 8 in 10 experiences. It is made only from Nebbiolo and aged at least 38 months, 18 of them in wood, or 62 months for a Riserva. Nebbiolo is also poured younger, as Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba, at 3 in 10 tastings, followed by Barbera and Dolcetto. About a third of the experiences pour at least one Barolo named after its cru, a delimited area that the production rules call an MGA: Villadoria, in Serralunga d'Alba, pours 4 Barolos, ending with the Sorì Paradiso single vineyard and the Lazzarito cru, with dark chocolate. About ten are vertical tastings, one wine across several vintages: Podere Gagliassi, an organic estate in Monforte d'Alba, walks you through the vineyards and the underground cellar, then pours its Barolo from three vintages.

Can you visit more than one Barolo winery in a day?

Yes: more than half of the dozen or so wine tours in Barolo visit at least two wineries, with transport included, from Turin, Milan or Alba. Others pair a single winery with a truffle hunt in Monforte d'Alba, a day on an electric Vespa, or a stop in Alba and at Grinzane Cavour castle.

When is the best time for a Barolo wine tasting?

Autumn is the busiest season: more than a third of the year's bookings fall in October and November. Nebbiolo is usually picked in October, when Alba opens its White Truffle Fair, which runs until early December. From April to October, Josetta Saffirio, in Monforte d'Alba, packs a basket for a picnic among the vines, with a bottle of Barbera d'Alba Superiore. In summer, at Brandini, in La Morra, the tasting of 5 Barolos moves onto the terrace or under the fig trees, facing Monviso.