Barolo Buying Guide

With this web shop, we try to provide as much information as possible about Barolo in the broadest sense of the word. Ultimately, every Barolo lover will of course want to know which Barolo wines to buy.

On this page, we aim to guide you in the purchase of Barolo wine. Due to the enormous variety of Barolo wines, this is not possible without generalizing here and there. However, we strive to offer the clearest possible guide. Also keep in mind that this may be somewhat colored by our own personal preferences.

General tips

Vintages are important, but less so than in the past.

Since around 1996, almost all vintages have been good to great, with a few exceptions.
2002 was a very bad year and you will probably no longer come across it; 2003 can be skipped, as can 2014, unless it comes from Serralunga soil, as there are a few very good ones among them. All other vintages, certainly in the right hands, have produced good Barolo wines.
More on the vintages and their potential later in this article.

Don't worry (yet) about the "hot" vintages.

Recent years have generally become increasingly hot (and occasionally drier). This is worrying if the trend continues. 2024 was once again a hot year but there was sufficient rainfall, perhaps even too much...
For the time being, both the vines and the winemakers seem to be adapting well, and the quality of Barolo wines, even in hot vintages, is improving significantly.
The hot 2015 vintage, for example, is much better than 2009, and 2003 was downright poor. Barolo winemakers today possess the knowledge and skills to deal with the more extreme heat.
Generally speaking, cooler vintages often produce a wine that is grander in every respect and has more aging potential than wines from warmer years.

Don't just buy the top wines.

Barolo is a region where expensive wines take much longer to mature than cheaper ones. The more expensive wines often come from wineries that select extremely carefully in the vineyard, both in terms of grapes and vines. The wines produced here are extremely complex and require a longer period to reach their peak. These are also the wines that investors love because of their high quality, aging potential, and thus growth in value.
For those who love drinking Barolo, however, there is a lot of enjoyment to be had from drinking five- to six-year-old Barolos costing around 50 euros. Entry-level models from 2018 and 2020, for example, are fantastic right now. Buy those kinds of Barolo wines to enjoy now and you will never be disappointed!

Be a smart buyer.

Do not go for the "trendy" wines and winemakers; you will pay more than necessary for the same quality.
Preferably focus on producers who are still reasonably unknown now, but who might be a big name in ten years. There are a great many wonderful options in Barolo!
Ask yourself whether you want to drink or store (to make a profit) and decide which vintages to purchase based on that.

Vary your purchases.

Just like with investing, diversification is important. You cannot perfectly predict how a wine will develop, or even if your taste will remain the same.
Buy from different producers and in different styles so you don't put all your money into one type of wine.

What should I buy?

That depends on your goal and what your budget is. That is why we have compiled three lists: drink, store, and invest. Each category is explained at the top.

In top vintages (2001, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2013, 2016), you should buy as broadly as possible and build up stock while prices remain reasonable.

Looking ahead, 2017 and 2018 look like normal buying years, while 2019 promises to be a top vintage.

What if I want to buy older vintages?

The advice above applies to current vintages, but what if you want to buy older bottles on the secondary market?

My advice: Why not?

If you come across a batch of 2010 Brovia for a good price and you know they have been stored well, buy them!

But here is the problem:

I look everywhere for 2010 Brovia and they are rare. And if I find them, I try to beat you to it!
The secondary market focuses mainly on trophy wines. You will find plenty of Conterno and a few other big names with high production, but the rest is hard to get.
The best way to have a stable supply of well-stored Barolo is to buy them upon release and store them yourself.

So if you come across an old bottle of Conterno Monfortino that you need for a special evening, feel free to buy it! But you will pay top dollar and you never know 100% for sure how it has been stored.

I personally buy the vast majority of my Barolos upon release and store them myself. And those are the wines that give me the most satisfaction. But should you happen to have a stock of 2010 Brovia for sale... send me an email!

Final thoughts before we go to the lists

Barolo is a fantastic wine region at the moment. I have included 45 producers in my lists, but there are so many other great options.

Where, for example, are Voerzio, Altare, Scarzello, and many others? I could have made the lists longer, but wanted to keep them user-friendly. You could even put together a great Piedmont cellar without buying a single wine from these lists – that is how good Barolo is at the moment!

A small side note:

I haven't tasted every producer or every vintage. There will undoubtedly be great wines missing from this guide.
40 years ago, Robert Parker made a name for himself with the claim that wine merchants were biased because they had to sell the wines they wrote about. Perhaps that was the case back then, and perhaps it still is sometimes. But I can assure you that no one tells me which Barolos I should buy or sell.

I only choose the wines that I think are good – both for my shop and for these lists. There is no conflict of interest, because my evaluation process is the same for both.

How do I buy these wines?

It would be great if you could find a link to buy each recommended wine directly. Unfortunately, it is not that simple.

Barolos come and go.
Only a few are produced in large quantities, so you cannot always buy them whenever you want.
At the moment, we have more than 120 Barolos in stock, but likely less than half of the producers on this list.

Barolo is becoming increasingly popular, just like Burgundy ten years ago. Many people worldwide want to have these wines, and allocations are getting smaller and smaller. Until prices rise – let's hope they don't – demand will remain higher than supply.

Barolo Buying Guide