To taste Serralunga is to taste a Barolo with a sense of structure, tension and time. For two days at Fontanafredda, those qualities were examined from every angle as 25 producers gathered for Serralunga Day 2026, presenting their wines and the first expressions of the 2023 vintage.
Held on September 14 at Fontanafredda’s Villaggio Narrante, the historic estate was filled with producers and wine professionals, with glasses constantly being poured, bottles opened and wines examined from every angle. There was a blind tasting, a masterclass and a walk-around tasting, but also the less formal moments that often make wine events memorable: conversations with producers between flights, discussions that continued over dinner, and the opportunity to taste the same territory through many different hands and palates.
The wines were the starting point, but the conversations around them were just as compelling: about the vintage, the vineyards, the character of Serralunga and, inevitably, what time will reveal in the bottles now resting in cellars.
And there was something particularly fitting about tasting these wines here. Surrounded by Fontanafredda’s historic cellars and centuries-old vineyards, the connection between the estate, the territory and the wines felt almost tangible. Here, Serralunga is not simply something you taste in a glass. It is part of the landscape around you.
Serralunga d’Alba is often described as the more structured and austere side of Barolo. Its wines are known for their density, tannic architecture and ability to evolve over many years. The commune lies on the ridge overlooking the Tanaro Valley, where Helvetian formations of compacted sands and sandstones create a markedly different geological foundation from the softer marls of areas such as La Morra and Barolo.
The effect in the glass is distinctive. Nebbiolo from Serralunga tends to carry greater structure and a firmer tannic frame, often accompanied by dark fruit, spice, mineral and herbal notes. The commune is home to some of Barolo’s most renowned MGAs, including Vigna Rionda, Cerretta, Lazzarito, Falletto and Francia, vineyards whose wines have long been associated with longevity and the need for patience.
A First Taste of 2023
The 2023 vintage provided an especially interesting lens through which to examine this identity.
The growing season began with abundant rainfall before moving into intense summer heat and considerable climatic fluctuations. The conditions were challenging and highly variable, making the character of the resulting wines particularly interesting to assess before their release in the coming months.
During a blind tasting led by Master of Wine Gabriele Gorelli, Master of Wine Andrea Lonardi and wine critic Michaela Morris, 25 Barolos from Serralunga d’Alba were presented in flights of five.
Rather than showing wines overwhelmed by the warmth of the season, the tasting revealed a group of Barolos with notable balance. The 2023s showed lighter, more approachable tannins than one might expect from Serralunga, while retaining freshness, structure and succulence. There was also an appealing drinkability that made the wines particularly engaging at this early stage.
For Serralunga, this balance was especially revealing. The commune’s combination of soil, exposure and water reserves appears to have provided a degree of resilience during the hotter periods of the growing season. Rather than simply amplifying the effects of heat, the territory seemed to maintain the structural qualities for which its Barolos are known while preserving freshness.
In the glass, the wines showed the characteristic intensity of Serralunga, with dark fruit and herbal nuances accompanied by licorice, tobacco, spice, red fruit and a pronounced sapidity. The tannins were dense but increasingly integrated, supported by the acidity that gives these wines their underlying tension. Even at this young stage, there was a sense of the longevity that remains central to Serralunga’s identity.
The 2023s therefore offered an intriguing first encounter: wines shaped by a demanding season, yet marked by a freshness and balance that suggest they may evolve beautifully with time. In about a decade, they should begin to reveal the depth and complexity that Barolo can develop with age.
Two Territories: The Potential of Time
The conversation then extended beyond Piedmont with the masterclass “The Potential of Time: Two Parallel Lines That Converge Over Time.”
Fourteen Barolos from the great crus of Serralunga d’Alba were tasted alongside 14 Brunello di Montalcino, creating a dialogue between two of Italy’s most distinctive expressions of fine red wine.
Nebbiolo and Sangiovese come from different landscapes and possess very different personalities, yet both are capable of translating place with remarkable precision and developing complexity over extended ageing. Tasting them side by side offered an opportunity to consider not only their differences, but also the ways in which time can gradually bring seemingly different wines toward a common language of complexity, texture and nuance.
The comparison continued during a walk-around tasting, where producers from both Serralunga and Montalcino poured their wines and spoke directly about their vineyards and winemaking. The discussion moved naturally from the technical characteristics of the wines to the people and places behind them.
The Montalcino producers included Banfi, Camigliano, Caprili, Carpineto, Casanuova delle Cerbaie, Col d’Orcia, Corte Pavone, Ferrero, La Fortuna, Palazzo, Podere Brizio, Poggio Antico, Querce Bettina and Tassi.
From Serralunga, the lineup included Alessandro Rivetto, Angelo Negro, Cantina del Nebbiolo, Cascina Adelaide, Ca’ Romé, Damilano, Domenico Clerico, Ettore Germano, Fontanafredda, Gabutti Boasso, Giovanni Rosso, Luigi Baudana, Luigi Vico, Mauro Veglio, Palladino, Paolo Manzone, Pico Maccario, Podere Gagliassi, Tenuta Cucco, Tenuta Rocca, Villadoria and Vite Colte.
Together, the wines offered a remarkably broad view of Serralunga, allowing the 2023 vintage to be considered not as a single expression, but through the different vineyards, producers and crus that make up the commune.
From Tasting Tables to Dinner
The exchange continued into the evening.
The opening dinner at Disguido Bistrot at Fontanafredda brought producers and guests together around the wines of Barolo, while the closing charity gala brought Barolo and Brunello producers together once again. Wines from both territories accompanied dishes prepared by the chefs of Guido Ristorante and Osteria Tre Case, extending the conversation from the tasting room to the table.
This was perhaps the most natural conclusion to two days devoted to wine: after the technical discussions, blind tastings and comparisons, wine returned to its most human setting, shared around food and conversation.
Fontanafredda was an appropriate setting for the entire experience. Its historic relationship with Serralunga, its vineyards and cellars, and the atmosphere of the Villaggio Narrante provided more than a backdrop. The estate offered a physical connection to the history and identity that the wines expressed in the glass.
Serralunga’s wines have always been associated with structure, patience and longevity. The 2023 vintage offered an early glimpse of how those qualities responded to a season of heat and climatic variation. And by placing the wines alongside Brunello di Montalcino, Serralunga Day opened the conversation further: beyond individual appellations and grape varieties, toward the question of how great Italian wines carry their sense of place forward through time.
Serralunga Day
Website: https://www.serralungaday.it/