We visited the cantina on 4 November 2011. Our guide through the wines was Giulia from the Erbaluna offices.
The tasting room is filled with old bottles of Barolo, regretfully nothing from the year of either of our births.
Erbaluna produces only wines from grapes grown under strict Italian agriculture standards. There is no pesticides used on the vines so the wines have the "biological" label.
There were a number of bottles for tasting, from their whites to their grappas. All had been opened for at least six hours unless otherwise noted in the description.
We first tried the 2009 Nebbiolo, 14.5% alcohol, bottled September 1, 2011. The wine spent one year in large Slovenian barrels. It was very soft and ready to drink.
The second offering was the 2007 Erbaluna Barolo, 15% alcohol. This is their "Barolo di Base", produced from a variety of vineyards. It had a light Barolo nose. In the mouth, it was three separate pieces, the grape, the tannin and the alcohol. They are fairly well balanced. We believe it will take anywhere from three to five years to come together. We purchased this wine.
The next was the 2007 Vigna Rocche, 15% alcohol. This had been open for two days. There was a strange odor in the glass when first poured but blew off quickly. Thus, if you have this wine in your cellar, we recommend you decant it before serving. It has a good nose with very good structure that will require again, at least three years in the cellar before drinking. We purchased this wine also.
We were also served the 1997 and 2000 Barolos but they were "over the hill" probably because they had been open too long.
We also purchased their Grappa di Nebbiolo.
16 August 2014 For lunch today, we opened a bottle of the 2007 Erbaluna Barolo. We had made a smoked salmon and onion omelet with Indian spiced potatoes. We needed something that would stand up to the Indian spices so tried the Barolo. It did quite well for itself. Whereas, the wine was in three pieces (grape, tannin and alcohol) when we bought it, it had pretty much evened itself out to a very good example of the wine. There was a very nice nose that had developed also. We consider this wine ready to drink. Recommended for a light meal, not highly spiced.
31 March 2016 For lunch today, which was a plate of pasta with our sauce that was derived from my Sicilian grandmother's recipe and a plate of mozzarella with Sicilian olive oil , we opened another bottle of the 2007 Erbaluna Barolo. As mentioned above, this is the base Barolo, made from grapes that are not of a single vineyard but those that were from a number of places. The wine was opened about 15 minutes before the pasta was cooked. It was quite acidic upon first taste and smell. It proceeded to open more and change from an acidic wine with little fruit in the mouth to a wine that was drinkable but not the type of Barolo we are used to now. After one hour of being opened, and at the end of our meal, it had become somewhat even in its mouth and nose and was drinkable. We have another bottle that we have labeled "open one hour before". Have it in your cellar? Drink it now but we believe you should open it one hour before consumption!
15 July 2016 We opened the last bottle of the 2007 Barolo base that we had in our cellar today for lunch with a pasta dish that we prepared with shrimp cooked in Sicilian olive oil, seasoned with garlic grown in our garden, a little paprika and some dried oregano from our garden also. We had opened the bottle about 45 minutes before serving the pasta and realized that the wine was not ready. However, after about 20 minutes, it turned into a very nice Barolo with good fruit and tannin and a touch too much acid. During the meal, the wine leveled out to "one piece" which we enjoyed greatly with our meal. Recommended that you drink it now!!
5 March 2017 A sad day in our home today. We opened the last bottle of the 2007 Erbaluna Vigna Rocche. It was served with spinach and ricotta cannelloni. The wine went very well with the light to medium flavors of the cannelloni. Compliments to my wife for trying something new in our kitchen. We highly recommend that you open this wine and drink it within the next year if it has been stored properly. It is ready to drink and a great example of the Rocche vinyeard.
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