2017 Barolo, Piè Rupestris, Otin Fiorin, Cappellano, Piedmont, Italy
Critics reviews
The 2017 Barolo Rupestris is a gorgeous wine that marries classical austerity with the slightly riper profile of the year, a mix of aromas, flavours and textures that is utterly beguiling. Sweet red cherry, spice, rose petal, mint and cedar open in the glass, all framed by wiry tannins that need time to soften.
This is such a gorgeous and alluring Barolo.
Augusto Cappellano’s 2016s and 2017s are fabulous. The 2016s are every bit as magnificent as they were last year. In 2016, the personalities of the wines seemed a bit inverted, with the Franco showing more power and the Rupestris leaning towards the ethereal side.
With the 2017s, the wines go back to their respective roles. The Franco is elusive and beguiling, while the Franco is quite intense. Both 2017s are nothing short of magnificent. It’s a shame not to have tasted these Barolos at the winery, but, as I have written before, the lack of context shows just how unique the wines are. Readers will find plenty of historical information on Cappellano in our Article Archive.
Years ago, Baldo Cappellano asked me not to rate his wines, so all Cappellano wines show up on our database as NR.
Drink 2025 - 2042
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (January 2021)
About this WINE
Dr. Giuseppe Cappellano, Piedmont
Dr. Giuseppe Cappellano is revered as one of Serralunga d’Alba’s founding fathers, and after whose family the largest square in the village is justly honoured: ‘Piazza Cappellano’. Founded in 1870, the Cappellano family led by lawyer Filippo owned 150 ‘giornate’, or 60 hectares, around the village. His son Giovanni developed the family estate, renovating the vineyards and finding the time to build two hotels in Alba. For his ‘travails’ Giovanni’s vineyard was awarded bronze at the 1889 Paris Universal Exhibition, which enabled him to developed sales (of grapes?!) in a French market devastated by phylloxera. Giuseppe, Giovanni’s brother, graduated as a chemist. Consequently he leaned more towards the more pharmaceutical side of wine production, inventing none other than Barolo Chinato; a fortified ‘aromatizzato’ wine that combines fine Barolo and spirit steeped in twenty herbs.
Unfortunately Giovanni died in 1912 of a disease contracted while in Tunisia searching for phylloxera resistant vines. Giuseppe took over the running of the family estate. The responsibility was then passed down to Francesco Augusto Cappellano, an enologist, and then to his son Teobaldo, who returned from life in Eritrea to scale down the estate during the 1960s and to focus on high quality Barolo and Barolo Chinato; the latter at that time facing competition from mass-market imitations.
Augusto Cappellano succeeded his father Teobaldo in 2009, renovating the cellars and focussing his energy on the great vineyard of Gabutti, from which their two Barolo wines: the more generous ‘Rupestris’ and the rare, ungrafted ‘Piede Franco’ wines are derived. Vinification is naturally traditional, using cement and slavonian botte grande. And of course he continues to continues in the family tradition of hand-making their original Barolo Chinato.
Barolo
Located due south of Alba and the River Tanaro, Barolo is Piedmont's most famous wine DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita), renowned for producing Italy's finest red wines from 100 percent Nebbiolo.
Its red wines were originally sweet, but in 1840 the then extant Italian monarchy, the House of Savoy, ordered them to be altered to a dry style. This project was realised by French oenologist Louis Oudart, whose experience with Pinot Noir had convinced him of Nebbiolo's potential. The Barolo appellation was formalised in 1966 at around 1,700 hectares – only a tenth of the size of Burgundy, but almost three times as big as neighbouring Barbaresco.
Upgraded to DOCG status in 1980, Barolo comprises two distinct soil types: the first is a Tortonian sandy marl that produces a more feminine style of wine and can be found in the villages of Barolo, La Morra, Cherasco, Verduno, Novello, Roddi and parts of Castiglione Falletto. The second is the older Helvetian sandstone clay that bestows the wines with a more muscular style. This can be found in Monforte d'Alba, Serralunga d'Alba, Diano d'Alba, Grinzane Cavour and the other parts of Castiglione Falletto. Made today from the Nebbiolo clones Lampia, Michet and Rosé, Barolo has an exceptional terroir with almost every village perched on its own hill. The climate is continental, with an extended summer and autumn enabling the fickle Nebbiolo to achieve perfect ripeness.
Inspired by the success of modernists such as Elio Altare, there has been pressure in recent years to reduce the ageing requirements for Barolo; this has mostly been driven by new producers to the region, often with no Piedmontese viticultural heritage and armed with their roto-fermenters and barriques, intent on making a fruitier, more modern style of wine.
This modern style arguably appeals more to the important American market and its scribes, but the traditionalists continue to argue in favour of making Barolo in the classic way. They make the wine in a mix of epoxy-lined cement or stainless-steel cuves, followed by extended ageing in 25-hectoliter Slavonian botte (barrels) to gently soften and integrate the tannins. However, even amongst the traditionalists there has been a move, since the mid-1990s, towards using physiologically (rather than polyphenolically) riper fruit, aided by global warming. Both modernist and traditional schools can produce exceptional or disappointing wines.
Recommended traditionalist producers:
Giacomo Borgogno, Giacomo Conterno, Bruno Giacosa, Elio Grasso, Marcarini, Bartolo Mascarello and Giuseppe Mascarello.
Recommended nmdernist producers:
Azelia, Aldo Conterno, Luciano Sandrone, Paolo Scavino and Roberto Voerzio
Nebbiolo
Nebbiolo is the grape behind the Barolo and Barbaresco wines and is hardly ever seen outside the confines of Piedmont. It takes its name from "nebbia" which is Italian for fog, a frequent phenomenon in the region.
A notoriously pernickety grape, it requires sheltered south-facing sites and performs best on the well-drained calcareous marls to the north and south of Alba in the DOCG zones of Barbaresco and Barolo.
Langhe Nebbiolo is effectively the ‘second wine’ of Piedmont’s great Barolo & Barbarescos. This DOC is the only way Langhe producers can declassify their Barolo or Barbaresco fruit or wines to make an early-drinking style. Unlike Nebbiolo d’Alba, Langhe Nebbiolo can be cut with 15% other red indigenous varieties, such as Barbera or Dolcetto.
Nebbiolo flowers early and ripens late, so a long hang time, producing high levels of sugar, acidity and tannins; the challenge being to harvest the fruit with these three elements ripe and in balance. The best Barolos and Barbarescos are perfumed with aromas of tar, rose, mint, chocolate, liquorice and truffles. They age brilliantly and the very best need ten years to show at their best.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
The 2017 Barolo Rupestris is a gorgeous wine that marries classical austerity with the slightly riper profile of the year, a mix of aromas, flavours and textures that is utterly beguiling. Sweet red cherry, spice, rose petal, mint and cedar open in the glass, all framed by wiry tannins that need time to soften.
This is such a gorgeous and alluring Barolo.
Augusto Cappellano’s 2016s and 2017s are fabulous. The 2016s are every bit as magnificent as they were last year. In 2016, the personalities of the wines seemed a bit inverted, with the Franco showing more power and the Rupestris leaning towards the ethereal side.
With the 2017s, the wines go back to their respective roles. The Franco is elusive and beguiling, while the Franco is quite intense. Both 2017s are nothing short of magnificent. It’s a shame not to have tasted these Barolos at the winery, but, as I have written before, the lack of context shows just how unique the wines are. Readers will find plenty of historical information on Cappellano in our Article Archive.
Years ago, Baldo Cappellano asked me not to rate his wines, so all Cappellano wines show up on our database as NR.
Drink 2025 - 2042
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (January 2021)
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