Francesco Rinaldi & Figli Langhe Nebbiolo 2021

More about Francesco Rinaldi & Figli

Francesco Rinaldi is one of just a handful of historic estates that has made Barolo for over a century and continues to produce wine in an entirely traditional manner.

Or nearly so. Their one break with tradition is that Rinaldi has, for decades now, released single vineyard wines from Brunate and Cannubi. Why not? These are two of the greatest sites in all of Barolo and it is natural that Rinaldi would want to show them off.

Recently, they added a third Cru, Rocche dell'Annunziata, in La Morra. This fabulous Cru -- which happens to be Bartolo Mascarello's La Morra source -- produces achingly elegant and aromatic wines.

All these wines take time in the cellar – especially the Cannubi – but fortunately Rinaldi also produces a normale, and it is consistently one of the very best normales each vintage. It’s already approachable – we enjoyed a delicious bottle just last week – but I really like how this wine typically turns out after just 3-4 years of cellaring.

If, instead, you really want to cellar something for a long time, then grab bottles of Rinaldi’s Cannubi Riserva!

These wines remain, in my opinion, among the very best values in truly collectable Barolo – or wine period – available in the marketplace. The prices are tough to beat, especially when you consider the high quality and longevity of these wines. This is especially true when you consider the prices that more famous growers, that I regard as peers, like Bartolo Mascarello or Giuseppe Rinaldi command in the market. Read Antonio Galloni’s and Kerin O’Keefe’s notes below and you’ll see that they both view the quality here as being at that kind of level.