Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate 2021 750ml

The 2021 Brunate is the frost vintage: an April morning at minus four cost Rinaldi 30 percent of the crop and forced the replanting of 70 percent of the vineyard.

The estate's vintage report, reproduced by Galli Enoteca, records the frost of 8 April 2021 at minus 4°C at seven in the morning, with the damage concentrated in Brunate. August ran dry, rain came in late September, and Brunate was picked on 7 and 8 October, a day after Cannubi San Lorenzo and Le Coste. Antonio Galloni (Vinous) adds that the frost removed 30 percent of the Brunate crop and that the sisters then replanted 70 percent of the parcel. Marta Rinaldi told him the replant "would have happened at some point in the near future anyway, but the frost forced us to do it sooner rather than later". Second-generation fruit went into the vats, and Galloni calls the result a Barolo decidedly on the lighter side.

Inagaki Shoten, the Japanese importer that buys directly from the cellar, lists the routine for this bottling: maceration of around 30 days adjusted to the grapes, water cooling if the must climbs above 30°C, then at least 36 months in Slavonian oak botti and bottling without filtration. Fermentation runs on wild yeasts in the open wooden tini used since the grandfather's time, without temperature control. Galloni gives the same picture: 25 to 30 days on the skins, just under three years in wood, the 2021s bottled in late August 2024. The importer's shop received six bottles.

Beppe Rinaldi, the veterinarian who took over in 1992 and died in 2018, told Edward Behr he wanted a Barolo with "angles, not curves". Marta and Carlotta kept his rules: copper and sulphur only, cow manure, and a Brunate parcel on the La Morra side that takes the full southern sun, where Le Coste faces east. The estate farms about 8.5 hectares and averages 50,000 bottles a year.

In the glass

Kerin O'Keefe (October 2024, as quoted by WHWC) scored it 99: camphor, eucalyptus, rose and red berry, then Marasca cherry, crushed raspberry, wild herb and star anise over fine-grained tannins and bright acidity. Audrey Frick (JebDunnuck.com, May 2025, as quoted by WHWC) gave 97, noting a pale ruby colour, crushed stone, violet and black raspberry, and a mid-weight palate with broader, ripe tannins. Falstaff (Kiem and Staffler, October 2025) rated it 98: roses, wild raspberry, leather and cardamom, hesitant at first, then juicy fruit and polished, grippy tannins.

When to open

O'Keefe's window is 2031 to 2041; Frick's runs 2026 to 2056. Falstaff found it slow to open, so our suggestion is a long decant before 2031.

At the table

Our suggestion: braised beef, roast lamb or aged Castelmagno; the acidity O'Keefe notes carries fat.

Quick facts

Provenance

Sourced from the Japanese importer.

Sources: Giuseppe Rinaldi (label); Inagaki Shoten (Japanese importer); Vinous (A. Galloni); Galli Enoteca (estate vintage report); WHWC (quoting K. O'Keefe and JebDunnuck.com); Falstaff; XtraWine; Rare Wine Co.