Balsamic aromas of camphor and cedar mingle with rose and leather on this full-boded, savory red. Structured and delicious, the juicy palate is still youthfully austere, delivering ripe Marasca cherry, crushed raspberry, baking spice and licorice framed in noble tannins before a black tea finish. Drink 2025–2037.
Rich and round, this lively red is packed with bright cherry pie, plum tart and earth flavors, showing flourishes of menthol and tobacco. The tannins are well-mannered, and a mineral note emerges on the lingering aftertaste. Best from 2024 through 2045. 260 cases made. (Collectible)
The 2017 Barolo Baudana is such a gorgeous wine. It, too conveys the power of Serralunga, but with a bit less heft than is typically the case. Sweet dark cherry, iron, cedar, rose petal, mint and white pepper give the 2017 its effusive, inviting personality. This is such a tremendous showing.
The 2017 Barolo Baudana has more savory and forward notes of dried cranberry, leather, and orange peel on the nose, with tangy ripe fruit on the palate. It has a rather approachable style, with the generosity of the fruit up front and well-managed tannins. Drink 2021-2040.
From a historic vineyard in Serralunga d'Alba, the Luigi Baudana 2017 Barolo Baudana takes an extra minute to open and ultimately reveals a consistent and compact package of aromas centered on dark fruit, rusty earth and crushed flowers. It's quite nice the way the wine holds its cards closer to its proverbial chest. It lets its guard down one little piece at a time. There is some sweetness, too, and the wine feels weighty and powerful. I'd definitely give it a few more years of cellar aging so that the wine finds time to focus and flesh out. Some 3,500 bottles were released.
A chewy, tannic wine with dark berry, walnut and some tar. Full-bodied and flavorful. Firm and intense yet fine-grained tannins. Give it two or three years to come together. Try from 2023.
Luigi Baudana is the historical brand name of this estate, managed by the Vajra winery. The wine is fermented and aged in big Slavonian oak casks. The first impression amazes on the nose for its freshness. Peppery spice, restrained fruits and pomegranate juice, without any oxidative touch. The fairly natural and refreshing acidity balances well-packed but austere tannins, and represents the character of this cru. It's assertive on the finish at present, but although it needs more bottle ageing, the texture is remarkable. Drinking Window 2021 - 2040.
Winery Notes
The cru of Baudana can seem undersung compared to more famous sites, but in the recent past it was not so. “This vineyard has contributed to creating excellent signature wines since the 1930s and has always been held in high esteem by the locals”--Atlante delle Vigne di Langa, Slow Food, 1990. It was also singled out in Renato Ratti's now widely-cited 1970 map of the Barolo zone's best vineyards. Soils are a combination of the bluish-gray Tortonian-era Sant'Agata Fossili marls and the older whitish-yellow Formazione di Lequio from the Serravallian epoch. This tends to give a wine with the depth and power one associates with Serralunga, but with a gentler tannin structure, perhaps reminiscent of the wines of Barolo and La Morra.