Bruno Giacosa Barolo Le Rocche del Falletto Riserva 2014

A grape broker's son and the vineyard he finally bought

Bruno Giacosa, born in 1929, was the third generation of a family of grape dealers in Neive, on the Barbaresco side of the Langhe. His grandfather Carlo and father Mario bought and traded grapes; Bruno left school during World War II and started in the family business at 15. For most of his career he owned no vines at all. He made wine from fruit bought from a network of growers, many of them on handshake terms that lasted decades.

That knowledge of the vineyards became his reputation. He bottled his first Barbaresco Santo Stefano from the 1964 vintage, and a Barolo from Vigna Rionda and a Barbaresco Asili Riserva followed from 1967. In a region where Barolo and Barbaresco had traditionally been blends of several sites, he was among the early producers to bottle single vineyards. The Wine Advocate later wrote that much of his knowledge became the inspiration for the official vineyard mapping now used for both appellations.

When growers began bottling their own wine, buying the best fruit became harder, and Giacosa bought land. Wine Spectator and the Wine Advocate both date his purchase of the Falletto vineyard in Serralunga d'Alba to 1982; the estate's US importer dates it to 1980. The size is reported differently too: 25 acres in one obituary, 25 hectares in another, and 13 hectares (32 acres) in the importer's description of the estate today. The sources agree on the essentials: Falletto was the first vineyard he owned, and it became the center of his Barolo.

Le Rocche and the red label

Falletto is a steep, amphitheater-shaped slope of calcareous clay facing south and southwest, which Giacosa considered the best place to grow elegant, long-lived Barolo. Inside it is a single plot called Vigna Le Rocche, which holds the oldest vines on the estate and is vinified and bottled apart from the rest. For the 2014 the estate lists the vines at 42 years old and the yield at 45 hectoliters per hectare.

Giacosa's top wines come in two dresses. The regular bottlings carry a white label. In years the family judges exceptional, the best fruit becomes a Riserva and carries a red label instead, and those bottles are coveted by collectors around the world. Wine Spectator, reviewing the 2000, called the Le Rocche Riserva 'the Romanee-Conti of Barolo' and noted that the wine was first made in 1997.

The red label is not made every year, and the family will skip even its white labels when a vintage disappoints; a year it rejects is sold off in bulk. In 2013 the winery decided not to bottle its top reds from the 2010 vintage at all. For the Le Rocche Riserva, the Wine Advocate reported red-label bottlings in 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2014, and wrote in 2019 that Bruna Giacosa and her team had skipped 2013.

Bruno, Bruna and Dante Scaglione

Giacosa was solitary by nature and a man of few words. His daughter Bruna joined him in 1982, gradually became the public face of the business and took over its commercial side. Enologist Dante Scaglione began working with the Giacosas in 1990 or 1991 (sources differ by a year), left in 2007 to start a consulting business, and came back in 2011. Giorgio Lavagna was hired as enologist in 2008, in between.

In January 2006 Bruno suffered a stroke that kept him away from the winery for about a year, and Bruna's role kept growing. In 2012 the University of Gastronomic Sciences at Bra gave him an honorary degree. Robert Parker once wrote that if there was one producer he would buy year in and year out without tasting first, it was Bruno Giacosa.

Bruno Giacosa died in Alba in January 2018 at 88, with his daughters Bruna and Marina beside him. The date is reported as both January 21 and January 22. The 2014 Riserva had been harvested in his lifetime and bottled in August 2017; it reached the market after his death.

Betting on 2014

The estate describes 2014 as a balanced year with no extreme heat or rain, and says a wide swing between summer days and nights helped the Nebbiolo build aroma. The wines, it says, came out fine and elegant, with refined fruit and pronounced structure. The Le Rocche grapes were picked on October 6, 2014, fermented and macerated for 25 days in stainless steel, aged 32 months in large French oak casks and given another 30 months in bottle.

The label itself records the run: 10,656 bottles of 750 ml, 1,500 magnums and 200 three-liter bottles. The estate's analysis gives 14.5% alcohol, 5.90 grams per liter of total acidity and a pH of 3.58.

Critics split on how big a wine it is. Monica Larner of the Wine Advocate gave it 97 points in June 2019, writing that it unfolds slowly with amazing intensity, that the estate is known for taking its biggest chances in so-called off vintages, and that betting on 2014 turned out to be a brilliant move. Vinous gave it 94 in January 2021, calling it gentle, mid-weight and understated, unable to match the depth of 1999, 2001 or 2004 but very nicely done.

How to tell what you are holding

The 2014 is labeled Barolo Riserva, Falletto Vigna Le Rocche, under the name Falletto di Bruno Giacosa, on the red label of a Riserva. Older vintages of the same wine use the earlier names Le Rocche del Falletto di Serralunga d'Alba and Le Rocche del Falletto, which is why lists and catalogs often still call the 2014 by the old name.

The bottle count is printed on the label in Italian, a useful check across the three formats: 750 ml, 1.5-liter magnum and 3-liter. A white-label Barolo Falletto or Falletto Vigna Le Rocche of the same year is a different, non-Riserva wine.

In fall 2026 one US retailer listed a single 750 ml bottle at $455. Another offered it at $399.90 a bottle, but only by the six-bottle case as a pre-arrival order.

The numbers

Falletto estate

13 ha (32 acres) per the importer; the 1982 purchase is reported as 25 acres and as 25 hectares

2014 production

10,656 x 750 ml, 1,500 x 1.5 L, 200 x 3 L

Vine age and yield

42 years; 45 hL/ha

Wine Advocate (Monica Larner, June 2019)

97

Vinous (January 2021)

94

Timeline

1. 1929

   Bruno Giacosa is born into a family of grape dealers in Neive.

2. 1964

   Giacosa bottles his first Barbaresco Santo Stefano.

3. 1967

   A Barolo from Vigna Rionda and a Barbaresco Asili Riserva follow.

4. 1982

   Giacosa buys the Falletto vineyard in Serralunga d'Alba (the importer gives 1980). Daughter Bruna joins the business.

5. 1997

   First vintage of the Le Rocche del Falletto bottling.

6. Jul 2004

   Wine Spectator calls the 2000 Le Rocche Riserva 'the Romanee-Conti of Barolo.'

7. Jan 2006

   Bruno Giacosa suffers a stroke; Bruna takes on a larger role.

8. 2010

   The wine takes its current name, Falletto Vigna Le Rocche.

9. May 2011

   Enologist Dante Scaglione returns to the winery.

10. 2012

    Giacosa receives an honorary degree from the University of Gastronomic Sciences at Bra.

11. 2013

    The winery decides not to bottle its top reds from 2010.

12. Oct 6, 2014

    The 2014 Le Rocche grapes are harvested.

13. Aug 2017

    The 2014 Riserva is bottled after 32 months in cask.

14. Jan 2018

    Bruno Giacosa dies in Alba at 88.

15. Jun 2019

    The Wine Advocate scores the 2014 Riserva 97.

16. Jan 2021

    Vinous scores it 94.

The world in 2014

• Feb 2014

  The Winter Olympics open in Sochi, Russia, and the West African Ebola epidemic begins.

• Mar 21, 2014

  Russia formally annexes Crimea.

• Jun 29, 2014

  The Islamic State declares itself a caliphate.

• Jul 13, 2014

  Germany beats Argentina 1-0 to win the World Cup in Brazil, days after beating the hosts 7-1.

• Aug 8, 2014

  The World Health Organization declares the Ebola outbreak an international public health emergency.

• Sep 18, 2014

  Scotland votes against independence from the United Kingdom.

• Nov 12, 2014

  The Philae probe lands on Comet 67P, the first spacecraft landing on a comet.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Bruno Giacosa Barolo Le Rocche del Falletto Riserva 2014 is number 68 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (44 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Bruno Giacosa made celebrated single-vineyard wines for nearly two decades before he owned a single vine.
• The exact number of bottles made is printed on the 2014 label: 10,656 standard bottles.
• The same wine has carried three names since 1997, so older and newer bottles of it can look like different wines on a list.
• When a vintage falls short, the Giacosas sell it off in bulk rather than bottle it under their name; they did not bottle their top 2010 reds.
• Robert Parker said Giacosa resembled Jimmy Stewart, in looks and in his quiet, stoic manner.