Fratelli Barale
Traditional Barolo from the village of Barolo itself — floral, elegant, raised in big casks, and still family-run after a century and a half.
Fratelli Barale is one of the old houses of Barolo, founded in 1870 and run today by Sergio Barale from cellars in the heart of the village. The style has never chased fashion: fermentation in stainless steel, long ageing in large French and Slavonian botti, and Nebbiolo that tastes of flowers, cherry and dried tobacco leaf rather than of oak.
The range covers the traditional varieties of the Langhe — Dolcetto, Barbera, Nebbiolo — with the Barolo del Comune di Barolo at its centre. Sergio also bottles a line under his own name from the family's fruit. For a producer of this standing, the prices have stayed remarkably sane, which is a large part of why we import it ourselves.